Way of the Assassin
by DolceCantabile
Summary: In the midst of war, where everyone is used as a tool, one assassin rises above the others as he finds himself trying to save the Maple World – along with a cleric who’s just too cute for words! Complete.
1. Prologue

_**WAY OF THE ASSASSIN **_

_Disclaimer: _Maplestory and all therein belong to Wizet; I make no profit from this. I do, however, own the concept of this story

**PG – **Some foul language, violence.

**Prologue**: The darkness of the night swallows up the quiet town of El Nath. A metallic object caught a flash of light as it whizzed through the air with incredulous speed. There was a dull thud as the throwing star caught on its target, and a body fell, followed by another with a dull crash in the hardened snow. A red dot appeared on the white snow and it bloomed like a summer rose. An assassin jumped through the air with his haste and exclamations of fear was spread throughout the fields. The assassin, a legendary prodigy barely in his mid eight-teens shed a tear and quickly wiped it away, "this war… shall end soon" he thought in his mind.

He quickly ran, hopping with ease over the bloodied ground and over into the trees of el Nath. Quickly he leaped, tree from tree, and to the darkened house in the outskirts of El Nath, he entered and was heartily greeted by a girl of 18. "Are you hurt?" she asked with great concern, of course this was his lover, and her name, was Rica.

The boy looked with an expression of boredom, "no, I will not get hurt, I have been through this war for the past 4 years and I have never been hurt, I am not going to start now," he replied with boredom as if he has said the same line over and over and over again. His name was Schyth; he was considered a Prodigy since he was in training, his face had a rugged handsome feature to it, though his eyes are deadly during battle, his eyes seem to smile at normal times in his own house.

He flicked a steely with incredulous speed towards his target practice, which by now has been reduced to mere shreds. "Once this war is finished, I will spend more time with you my love, and you will be able to stop worrying about me dying," Schyth said with a great and sudden seriousness in his voice, he meant what he said, and he will thrive to accomplish what he has promised his love, he will end this war, even if it cost him his humanity.

**Author's Note:** Hey guys, Kalypto here! 3 Just a note to inform you that this is NOT written by me, this is written by my FRIEND! O introducing…ahh well he's not gonna be happy if I gave out his real name, so let's just call him Shortie, shall we?

Shortie: Hey! What gives?

Kalypto: Luv you too, Shortie! 3

Shortie: -mutter mutter-

Kalypto: (whisper) he's too shy for his own good…guys, tell him you're not gonna throw bananas at him or steelys or whatever assassins throw, okay?

Audience: We're not gonna kill you! Yet…

Kalypto: See?

Shortie: ………..


	2. Way of the Assasin

As he quickly stripped off his nightgown to get back into the war and to quickly finish the cursed thing humans calls war, he took a steely and shot it to below the door to ensure that nobody walks in. The reason for this is a reason he never let Rica know, on his back, a huge scar that was given to him by a warrior from the opposing army had given him. The attack had left a terrible and ugly rope-like scar on his back, reaching from the left side of his neck down to his right hip. If he was to show this to Rica, he was afraid that she might try to stop him from going again.

Now the problem is a great, great problem, for once he was ready to go to war, he was a monster, capable of killing those he loved without shedding a single tear, for that was The Way of the Assassin. Let no one, even those you love, stop you from completing your mission. But he loved Rica, he was afraid that he might kill her, it was too much for him to think about, so he quickly pulled on his dark Scorpio set. He set his steelies and tobis on their proper places, and set out to the war, where his powers will be used to kill countless people. Casting his usual haste, Schyth casually walked out the door as if he was going to a stroll in the park.

What he saw horrified him, a handful of powerful warriors and mages were outside of his house, they seemed to be of the opposing army, they were waiting with great reluctance as they know that many will die. "We have come to destroy you and your house, so that you may never again; interfere with the great plan of out master, Hinyth." A single fire mage exclaimed. Schyth quickly drew out his steelies and shot them at a couple of the mages, knowing they were the biggest threat to his house.

A couple mages fell, as the steelies cut through their throats, blood spilled on the ground, tainting the white snow. The remaining warriors and mages looked at their fallen comrades, and with fear on their faces charged. A single lone mage summoned an arrow of fire, and with precision and skill shot it to the straw roof of Schyth's house. Schyth watched with horror as the flames grew, like a hungry beast devouring the house until it was a big ball of fire.

He jumped away just in time to dodge a GroonHill that was aimed by a warrior at his head. He pulled out a steely and shot it at the throat of the warrior, the warrior being slower then the star of an assassin quickly fell and died as the steely punctured his chest and destroyed his heart. He screamed enraged with grief as his house burned down and he knew, killing Rica. His eyes turned to an eye worthy of a deadly Prodigy, black flames rose around him and his stars. "You see? This is true pyromancy! True evil and skill that your match-play lacks," and he easily threw a great amount of stars, surrounded by black flames. The stars did not only kill the attackers, but burned them, vaporized them until nothing was left. Feeling unwary of what head just done, Schyth settled down and tried to think of how he was able to summon black flames to vaporize his opponents.

While he was thinking, he looked around at what was left of his house; he saw a terrifying sight that made him vomit. A scorched hand emerged from the burned house, but from the looks of it, it was dead. Schyth felt a deep sorrow in his heart, and though the Way of The Assassin told the assassins never to let a loved one stop you from accomplishing your goals, the pain of his heart overwhelmed him and he fainted into the dark and calm night.

**Author's Note**: HII! Kalypto here! Yeah…so…anyways…chapter 1! LOL! Sorry it took a while, I was bugging Shortie to edit the Prologue (at the request of one of our reviewers )) alas, Shortie's a bit busy with exams right now. So I posted chapter one to keep you wonderful readers entertained! Hee hee!


	3. Power and Death

I woke up to the sound of early birds, but these birds were not birds of great fortune. Vultures and crows stands perched on top of the burned house. A couple of them were pecking on the burnt hand of Rica. "Damn you, you cursed birds," I shouted as I realized that the vultures and crows were actually EATING Rica. I quickly took out a steely and threw it in the middle of the crowd of birds; the star however did not turn to be covered by black flames, but stayed as is.

"How come it was not surrounded by black flames, it just stayed as a steely," I wondered. I decided that I will figure it out it out later, after I finished my latest assassination. "Hinyth….prepare to die," I murmured quietly. I started to cast haste, and with ease jumped to the top of my house.

Quickly I dug out Rica and gave her a decent burial. I stuck one my most prized possessions on her grave, and covered it with soil, after this, I ran towards the castle of Hinyth. Jumping over trees I quickly made my way, and in no time, I was there, at the castle of Hinyth. With my keen eyes I looked at the castle and saw 45 guards, all powerful warriors and mages, but no assassins nor bowmen, these two were on my side. With skill and precision, I aimed at the nearest guard, and shot two steelies at him, both landed in his neck instantly killing him.

After I killed him, two more guards appeared to see how their friend suddenly collapsed. I shot 4 steelies, 2 of them hit each guard, but one of the guards did not die, he merely stood there. I saw the reason why, his armor, a dark battle road prevented the knives to be fully effective.

"COWARD! STAND AND FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN," the warrior shouted.

Rage and realization built up inside of me, "this was the warrior who had given me a long scar on my back," as my rage overwhelmed me, I turned once again to the fearsome assassin I was the day before. But what surrounded me this time was no black fire; dark lightning surrounded me making my hair fizzle and stand. I screamed at the top of my lungs, "WITH PLEASURE, I WILL KILL YOU WITHOUT LETTING YOU GET A SINGLE SCRATCH ON ME!" I jumped down from the tree I hid on.

The warrior stood with fear as he saw an assassin controlling the most advanced magic, the fusion of a mage's elemental power, and a warrior's lightning strike, combining both to summon black lightning from the demon realm.

I circled the warrior, he watched me with fear, I felt a small grin creeping its' way up my mouth. My lips turned into a small, but unmistakably evil grin. This was the first time I experienced pleasure at the moment of cornering someone. The warrior continuously watched me vigilantly, but he was no match for an assassin's great speed, and with that great speed I shot a star surrounded by black lightning, the lightning seemed to have boosted the power my star and it broke through the warrior's armor. The dark lightning surrounded the warrior and it seemed to keep him trapped there like a cocoon. The warrior struggled as he bled through his armor.

I laughed evilly at the sight of the warrior who had not long ago put a scar on my back and almost killed me. "Do you remember who I am now Mr. Warrior?" I asked with disdain. A look of surprise seemed to have stricken his face.

"You… The assassin I almost killed had it not been for the darkness of the night and the assassin's dark-sight…" he said with fear, then he laughed.

"Has fear snapped your mind?" I asked him with utter pity and disgust.

"No…It is just funny that it is you who kills me, for I was sure that you were a coward just the night before," and he laughed again. I was sick of his endless chatter, so I quickly said the word needed to finish him off

"Die!" I exclaimed, and after these words, the web of lightning got closer and closer, and the warrior's laughter was louder and louder, until it ended with a sickening crackle as the warrior was electrocuted until he was nothing more then a burnt piece of charcoal in the shape of human. After killing him I snapped back to my senses, the dark lightning around me faded and my eyes turned normal. I looked with pity at the man I killed, and I buried him, for I knew not what I had done, but I knew no one deserved to die like this.

After giving him a well deserved burial, I turned on my dark-sight and slipped past the doors of Hinyth's castle and went on to find the room of Hinyth.

**Author's Note**: KALYPTO HERE! My, Shortie's writing pretty fast, isn't he? LOL actually, he's written the first 18 chapters already! So all I need to do is post them…but be warned, for if no one reviews, no one gets to see the rest! MWA HA HA! –ahem- anyways…here's Shortie…

Shortie: Hello…-yawn-

Kalypto: Whoa…what happened to you? You look half-dead…

Shortie: EXAMS are what happened to me! SOME of us actually HAVE them!

Kalypto: Hey, hey, not my fault I go to the school I do!

Kalypto  goes to a non-semestered school, so she will be having all 8 exams in June.

Kalypto: And since when do you study?

Shortie: … -goes back to sleep-

Kalypto: Ehehehe. See? He's been working so hard for you guys…now be nice and review, kay? ;)


	4. A Battle

_Disclaimer: _Maplestory and all therein belong to Wizet; I make no profit from this. I do, however, own the concept of this story (Shortie owns it, NOT Kalypto)

-

As Schyth sneaked and navigated his way throughout the large castle he was faced with many challenges, one of them being a room he encountered in the dungeons which he entered looking for information of where Hinyth was located. (Continuing now in Schyth's view)

It was dark as I entered the room; the stench of decaying bodies was overwhelming. I almost fell over but I took control of my body and willed myself to stay standing. A little candle was the only thing lighting the room, which was dim and stenches of decaying bodies. "What the hell is this?" I quietly whispered to myself. I looked around the room and there was actually a man next to the candle, he was so thin I mistook him for a candle post. I walked towards him and poked him a little. He quickly woke up and started to shout.

"WHO IS THIS MAN WHO DARES TO INTRUDE THE CHAMBER OF LIFE?" he screamed, though it was quiet and raspy it still managed to sound menacing. "This chamber contains all that dares to defy the Lord…Hinyth! And I shall keep you here if you are an enemy of Hinyth" the thin man then stepped into my view, though it was almost pitch black I could still some of the details due to my keen eyes. He was a small man; he looked frail and dead, as if he had not been in the sun for the last…at least 20 years! Though he was frail and small, there fine details of what would have used been a handsome face, but now scarred with wounds that will remain for a lifetime, his arm scarred also with wounds from countless battles. He held a dragon tail in his hand…

"A traitor… all bandits and assassins are on the side of Byiachi… for your treachery to the master we have sworn our lives to… I shall kill you." I whispered out loud as I pulled on my dark scarab. I casted haste and jumped up high. I landed on what seemed to be a flying cage; the cage creaked as it tried to support my weight. I quickly drew out a steely and chucked it at the traitor. The traitor with unblemished bandit speed dodged it, what he didn't know was that while jumping I summoned a doppelganger and ordered to make it attack from his back. The traitor jumped back and was met by the doppelganger's knife. It landed with a dull thud on his back.

"What the hell…" I whispered to myself. The knife that landed on the man's back stayed there, but it didn't seem to bother the man one bit. The bandit jumped up to where I am, he attacked with extreme precision, and it was as if his eyes had a night vision technique. He executed a perfect Assaulter technique right in the air. I jumped to dodge it, but he summoned a platform of mana and jumped on it. "Crap! This is no average bandit, Flash Jump is not supposed to be available to anyone except the Hermits. Even I had not been able to get the third job yet, though I'm sure I would be able to if I tried. I kept on jumping and jumping until I tripped on something hard, and heavy.

I looked around and saw a bag of money lying there…"Oh Shi!" I looked around and saw what I have been expecting. A shadow doppelganger much like my own stood there, with a case used commonly to destroy mine sites except for the fact that it resembled the other man. The lever was pushed down and I shielded myself as best as I could. I blocked the worst of the explosion but before I even regained strength to my legs, six other bandits were there. They kicked me into the air and one of them jumped high. I almost lost consciousness before realizing that my troubles were not over yet. The bandit that jumped high into the air brought a bazlud right down to my stomach with amazing strength. All that was left of my strength left me. I came down, hard, on the floor. My consciousness left me not longer after that, what I saw through my eyes before it flickered shut was the old man. I was able to see the details more clearly this time. His skin…it was too pale for him to be alive, and an odd thought struck me… he wasn't one person…he was pieces of assassins and bandits stuck and animated together with dark magic… a magic only possible by Hinyth's most powerful magician… and it pains me to say her name… it is… Rica….

**Author's Note: **Yeah okay, I think you guys realize Shortie's probably never gonna bother editing all the grammar stuff --;; Energy drain…so…tired…Zzzzzzzz

Shortie: Wow…she's actually out of energy…I SWEAR I DIDN'T DRUG HER OO

Audience: Sure you didn't…

Shortie: I didn't!

Audience: Sure.

Shortie: I'M INNOCENT, DAMNIT! Grr…-walks off-

Audience: He's so fun to irritate…hehe.

Shortie: -appears in the doorway- Oh yeah. Thank you for the one person who reviewed --;;


	5. Defeat of the Stranger

_Disclaimer: _Maplestory and all therein belong to Wizet; I make no profit from this. I do, however, own the concept of this story (Shortie, that is, not me)

I woke up in one of the cramped cages. All around me were bones of the deceased. I groped around looking for a possible exit; I touched something warm…and pulsing. I casted haste and a blue light glew for a tiny bit of time, I saw the little bits of what I was touching.

A young woman, barely in the middle of her teens was lying there. She seemed alive for she was till breathing, but she seemed to be unconscious. I felt a blush slowly make its' way up my face. She was beautiful. She seemed to resemble… Rica. I tried to wake her up, but it seems she was completely unconscious.

"It's no use…" the stranger said, and then laughed. I put her in a trance. "She will not wake until I am completely dead."

"What did you do to her?" I asked him with rage swelling up inside me. The lightning that built up when I fought the warrior made its' way out of my body, the raw power seemed to swell inside my scarab. My scarab frizzed with power, my hand started to fell numb. I brought out a steely and threw it at the steel that blocked me from exiting this cage. The steely itself failed, but a lightning bolt stuck onto the cage. The extreme heat from the lightning heated up the steel and it broke with a resounding snap. I dug my way out of the cage and brought the girl down along with me.

"You have done enough…; this place is filled with the corpses of people. They have died for their own ideals, I do not contradict you for it, but to torture them to death… is something I do NOT find amusing." I said as rage brought tears to my eyes. "Death…is the least you should suffer." I finished off.

Running forward I took out 4 steelies, placed 2 on each hand and shot them. It landed on him, but he was not affected. With assassin speed he jumped above me and brought down his Dragon Tail in a deadly arc. I was unable to completely dodge it for my skills have not yet mastered the Flash Jump or any other advanced skills; all I could do was watch, as the Dragon Tail hit my arm and blood flowed down from it.

I landed on the floor with a dull crash. I stood back up and I saw that the fall left me dizzy and a large dent on the floor. "You are nothing more then a zombie, I grant you release from this nightmare!" I said. With a terrible roar, the powers of darkness completely surrounded me. I threw a steely fizzing with electricity.

The steely struck the lifeless zombie. The body was enveloped in lightning. A sickening blast signaled the end. The body was nothing more then a piece of charcoal. I turned around looking back to the girl… she still hasn't waken up. That can only mean one thing… a steely stabbed my back, the source? The piece of charcoal was still moving. The dragon tail still in his hand. An Assaulter technique was perfectly executed, and without knowing it, I returned it. Two Assaulters were executed and we blew each other off to the walls. The blast was powerful, but before I even hit the wall I jumped.

I summoned a powerful platform in mid-air and jumped off of it. I landed vertically on the wall. "Oh jeez… No way… I have the legendary power… the true power of the copycat!"

(Schyth's thoughts)" It's all starting to make sense now… the lightning… the fire… they were both because I have seen similar power… but because of my assassin lineage… it transferred the power to the side of darkness. The night I summoned dark flames… it was because I have just seen a fire mage burn my house… and when I killed the warrior with the lightning… because he used lightning strike when he made that scar on my back… and this time… the lightning… because of the memories of the time I killed that warrior. I see… I can summon any power… therefore, he is a zombie, the thing that affects it is… holy arrow!"

"Aruk yui 2hah y yi," I recited a chant commonly used by priests when summoning their Holy Powers. The steely lit up with a white glow… but somehow… it seemed to be tainted. "So my suspicions are correct, that's why I have been so strong, whenever I see someone fight, I acknowledge their skills and I am able to copy them.

I shot the holy steely and it pierced through the zombie.

"GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH." The zombie screamed a terrible cry of anguish and tiny holes of light began to appear in his body. The holes began to join together and soon enough the whole body has been evaporated.

"Unghh, how long have I been here?" a tiny voice asked in the corner of the room.

I looked around to see that the girl has woken up. Good that means that that man really is dead… "You have been here for quite a while now. I think that man that I just destroyed put you under a spell." I explained, "Don't worry, once he died, the spell wore off and you woke up." I quickly added seeing the terror on her face. "Don't worry, that kind of thing won't happen again, not while I'm here."

"Thank…you…?"She replied to me.

"Name's Schyth, I'm on a quest, to hunt down Hinyth." I replied back.

"Ah. Well Schyth, shall we go on? I could be of use. I am a cleric you know." She asked, no, more like exclaimed.

"Haha…" I chuckled, "I won't need anyone, but you can come along if you want to."

**Author's Note: **Hi…I'm…the author…of this story….anyways…this is chapter four / -a hyperactive…whatever-it-is jumps on him- 

Kalypto: HIII SHORTIE!!!!!!! .

Shortie: WHERE THE HELL DID YOU COME FROM?

Kalypto: My mommie's tummy )

Shortie: …

Kalypto: HEY YOU DID THE AUTHOR'S NOTE! No fair…that's my job '( 

Shortie: I will gladly give you back your job…-goes back to writing-

Kalypto: YAY! –shoves Shortie out of her chair- ANYWAYS, thank you for the ONE person who reviewed –glares at you- ungrateful…REVIEW! OR ELSE!!!!


	6. Forbidden Memories

_Disclaimer: _Maplestory and all therein belong to Wizet; I make no profit from this. I do, however, own the concept of this story Replace all I's with Shortie

Both of us ran forward out of the dungeon when I realized something. "Oh I just noticed something. I don't even know your name; might you be willing to tell me it?"

"Ohhh yeaah, yes of course, it's the least I can do. My name is Frey. It was my mother's maiden name as well." She replied.

"Frey...it's a nice name." I told her. We talked no more. I quickly sped out of the castle. "If one of the zombies is that strong, I wouldn't stand a chance against Hinyth and his assistants, no magician would be stupid enough to make a monster stronger then him or her… Better retreat now and train myself up a bit, no use trying to avenge Rica if I die as well." I thought to myself.

"Why not break the silence? Tell me why you were imprisoned? I thought all of magicians and warriors were under the jurisdiction and orders of Hinyth." I asked her as we stopped for a rest.

"It's a long story…" she replied with great discomfort.

"We're not going anywhere," I replied bringing out a good point.

"Well then, sit back, I don't want to stop."

"It began not long ago. A warrior who believed he was powerful enough to defeat Hinyth recruited what few mages and warriors he could and attacked Hinyth. But of course, Hinyth was not a pushover, his power was far greater then that of the warrior and his followers. They were imprisoned and so were those who had any whatsoever relationship with them. I was one of them, I was a magician's beloved, he had died, of starvation, and only after that did they capture me. I went through a great deal before I was put in a trance. First they tortured me, physically, with all manners of machines and tools; they destroyed my fingers, crushed my kneecap, beat me, whipped me, and did various other horrible things. All these things hurt me, but of course they are unable to permanently injure me, for I am a cleric. So after this, a smarter one of the couple of men Hinyth ordered to torture me suggested that they hurt me mentally. This idea was warmly welcomed by Hinyth, so, they put me in a room, with the corpse of my fiancée.

He already started to decompose, so the room stenches of decaying bodies. Then they kicked me, and pushed me so that I lay right on top of my fiancée. It was a while before I figured out that I could stop the decomposition and give my fiancée his normal body back by healing him, though I was still unable to revive him. After this didn't seem to work, Hinyth was getting fed up.

It was after this that I was put into a trance by the zombie. I was lying in that cage for I don't know how long until you came and rescued me." She smiled and for that fleeting moment, I had a tiny hope, that she might somehow be Rica, the same spirit, the same soul, but in a different body. That hope quickly fluttered away as I quickly snapped back into reality and her, "Interesting… tomorrow, I must retrieve a possession of mine, which I buried in the grave of my love, it shall help me in my conquest to defeat Hinyth." After saying this I turned my head and quickly went to sleep. Behind me, I heard the faint sounds of robes crumpling and soft breathing.

**Author's Note: **I'm running out of ideas for these things…umm…

Shortie: Just make it funny…

Kalypto: Hmph! You try, then, Mr. High and Mighty!

Shortie: …Pretend I'm funny, and laugh.

Kalypto: Bravo…bravo…

Shortie:…-goes back to doodling-

Kalypto: ANYWAYS. You guys know you love Shortie and me, so come on, REVIEW!!! Please? –does the puppy dog face-


	7. The Haunting Past

**CHAPTER 6**

**THE HAUNTING PAST**

_Disclaimer: _Neither Shortie or myself own Maple Story. Now don't sue us.

I woke up to the sound of a steely; I glanced upwards towards the sky and saw that I was no longer in a cave. Familiar eyes stared down at me; a great surge of familiarity went through my body. I tried once more to figure out whose eyes it was, and as I continued to look, it was becoming clearer.

"Brother…?" I managed to let out, though it was quite wispy.

"Indeed it is I brother, do not be afraid, I am not yet dead, though many have said I to be dead. But I have survived, the onslaught of Hinyth and his men, I shall aid you in your quest for my power would be an important asset." Said my brother.

It took me a while to snap put of my confusion, this was truly my brother, and one I believed to be lost as Hinyth ordered hundreds of men to attack our family home in Orbis. He did so because he feared us, the legendary clan of Athura. I have come from a long line of powerful assassins; my brother was considered to be the most talented assassin in the whole existence of Ossyria.

At the time of Hinyth's attack, I was only 7. I could still fight, but not as efficiently as my family, I was sent away, to run away from the battle as my brother and parents stood and fought. It was an endless slaughter; my house was stormed by a seemingly endless supply of men who were willing and ready to kill. Many warriors and mages crumpled under the might of my family. But no one could stand forever against such impossible odds.

A male, I couldn't tell who it was, whether it was my brother or my father. He shot a humongous star, a blinding flash of darkness shot out as the star gained 8 razor sharp edges. It cut through many, but as his back was turned, 12 mages casted a basic but powerful technique. I could faintly hear the terrible cry of anguish as countless blue claws lashed out at him from every direction, preventing and blocking every single chance for escape.

His blood caught the brilliant flashes of light and it glew a bright red. A terrible feeling of rage and anguish filled me, a member of my family was killed, and all I could do was run. I could feel the warm tears streak down my face as I kept running, away from that terrible slaughter. I ran for what seemed to be days, weeks, possibly months, before I blacked out.

When I came to, I was in darkness much like nothingness. But I knew it was not nothingness, for there was a fire in the distance, very far and dim, but I could still see it. I ran towards it trying to find out what was there, maybe it was a member of my family that has survived and are looking for me! It took no time to go to the source of the fire, but what took a long time was getting out of the shock that I was in after seeing what was there, near the fire.

Bodies, two of them, strung up like fish and left to bleed themselves dry. A sickening feeling found its' way to my stomach, an invisible rock seemed to block my airway, I coughed and vomited not long after that. The two bodies belonged to my two parents; it never occurred to me that by own brother could have survived.

"I can't believe it…You survived…" I started to tear up. My eyes began to water and I quickly wiped them away.

"Yes indeed, come to the town of Ellinia in Victoria, I must tell you of a grave danger, it threatens the whole world, both the armies must unite, in order to defeat this foul beast. If you and Hinyth refuse to unite, then I fear we are all in grave danger. For I must make short notice of this I shall tell you simply… Hinyth's control has gone haywire." He said all of this, in a calm voice. But tiny hints of fear could be heard.

"I understand brother, but I must do something before I come to Victoria… I must meet Arec, the third job instructor." I said quickly, I wanted to see my brother again, a brother I thought I had lost, a surviving member of my own tragic clan. But it would all be for naught if I did not get any stronger.

"I understand brother; you have grown into quite a man since I last saw you, you might at last be strong enough to accompany me to destroy the greater that holds the land in its' evil clutches. Now go, waste no time and come to Victoria as soon as possible." After he said this, a bright white light brought me back into reality.

Frey was kneeling down, her face looking closely at mine. I felt blood rush to my face and I felt my cheeks as they began to blush. I quickly pulled my face away from her gaze and turned around. Only when I felt sure that I was blushing no longer did I turn around to look at her.

Her staff was pulsing with a white hot light; I suppose it was this that woke me from my conversation with my brother.

"Are you O.K.? You were turning and crying and talking in your sleep." Frey asked me with a concerned look.

"We have to go to Arec Frey… And after that, we must go to Ellinia of Victoria Island. I must meet a certain man, my long lost brother. I just talked to him." I replied. I looked at her and she was looking at me weirdly. "What's wrong?" I asked her

"You just said you talked with your brother, but you were just sleeping, so how can that be?" She asked confused.

"I have a certain connection with him. Oh yeah I forgot! After we go to Arec, I must retrieve that certain something, remember?" I asked her again.

"Yeah I remember it still. Shall we go?" she said as she walked out of the cave.

I grinned for she reminded me very much of Rica, and I followed her right out, into the blistering cold of the ElNath fields.

**Author's Note:** Kalypto here! Um, happy belated Valentine's Day? Hehe ;;

Shortie: Did you forget again?

Kalypto: Um…no?

Shortie: Stop lying.

Kalypto: Hey, if you had a snow day on that day, would you remember things as trivial as Valentine's Day?

Shortie: …

Kalypto: Didn't think so.

Shortie: Whatever.

Kalypto: So, how about giving me and Shortie a belated Valentine's Day present, and REVIEWING? Please and thank you!


	8. A Deadly Advancement and Retrieval

**CHAPTER 7**

**A DEADLY ADVANCEMENT AND RETRIEVAL**

**(Looking into Frey's eyes)**

As we came out of the cave, a wind of blistering cold hit my face. I pulled my dark Seraphis on closer to my face in an attempt to warm myself. My dark Anakarune shook in the wind as it once again blew in a terrible gust. The wind seemed deadly, not just in a metaphorical kind of way, but there was a small level of death that the wind was carrying.

"Something is in the air Schyth," I said

"It is indeed something of great evil and power, it reeks of death." Schyth said, also sensing the death in the wind.

Schyth broke into a dead run straight forward into the now overwhelming darkness.

"What's wrong" I asked, concerned.

"Something is in front of us, be careful." He shouted back fighting against the wind.

A red glow suddenly flashed in front of us, about 5 meters away. Fear suddenly grasped my body and I was unable to move from the spot. A red flash appeared and pain struck me. I stood up trying to understand what was happening, but before I could figure it out, the red eyes were in right in front of me. Instinct took hold and overwhelmed the fear, in a twirling movement I spun my Thorns and shoved the thing away.

"What is that thing?" I asked in panic.

"Magicians corrupted by power and resorted to the use of the dark arts. They have completely forgotten their past lives and are now no better then beasts. The only way to free them is to kill them." He replied quickly.

A simple chant created a blinding streak of light that allowed me to look at my surroundings. There were a lot of them, about 50, and all has a red, evil glow to their eyes, Schyth was correct, they were no longer humans. I summoned a bow of light, it illuminated whatever darkness was left and brought fear into the corrupted magicians. I pulled the bow back and shot an arrow of pure light to the heart of the beast.

It was a terrible screech of pain. Unhumanlike, a noise no human could have made. The sound of it brought me to my knees and had me desperately trying to cover my ears with my Seraphis. A final burst of energy and the beast was destroyed. The others snapped out of their confusion and fear, and one by one, rose.

One of them extended a claw like hand towards me. I felt an invisible force grasp me, and I was lifted off the ground, I couldn't move my arms or my legs, I was in a cocoon. This was an impossible task for normal humans for this task would have depleted them of their mana and left them gasping for air.

"Grasp of the Demon…" Said the thing that was holding me, "interesting don't you think? It holds my opponents captive, and I could kill them by doing _this!" _He said as he slowly closed his palm.

"IAAAAAAAAAAAAA" pain surged through me. It felt as if my own life force were being squeezed out. The pain drained all the reserves I had left in my body, and as I slipped into the dark void I said, "Schyth…"

It was impossible for to know how long I was inside the darkness, but I woke up to rising on Schyth's back.

"Wahh!" I shouted in surprise. I pulled my arms away from him and fell to the ground.

Schyth stood above me, grinning. It might have just been me, but I was sure I could see a blush on his face.

"You're a smart one," He said. "Don't worry, they're gone. I killed some, most ran away." He added after a while.

"What happened?" I asked drowsily.

"Nothing much really, a couple of 'ahhs' and another couple of 'gahhs' is about it." he smiled. "Oh by the way, we are in ElNath now, I have to see Arec about my job, you want to come? You can talk to that other mage person." He said smiling.

He continued walking as calm as ever, the incident with the "things" doesn't even seem to bother him. I was sure I was beginning to fall for him. I walked faster to catch up with him.

ElNath was still quiet , but that's what seems weird, ElNath wasn't usually quiet, not a time like this, usually there would be people everywhere, people buying things, selling things, and other such trifles. But now… emptiness. We walked quickly to the humongous house that the four instructors lived in. with Schyth's haste, we reached there quickly. When we went in, we were quite genuinely shocked.

Zombies, things that were once humans, but affected by the darkness that once polluted ElNath became Undead. They were littered all over the floor, and more were still attacking. The four instructors beat down one by one but as time passed they started to look tired.

I shot a Holy Arrow towards a zombie that was about to kill Arec and quickly shot another one at one that was trying to kill me. Schyth was also attacking, but his stars were glowing with a faint white light, but it was tainted… with darkness.

He threw the stars behind me and I heard a groan as a zombie fell to the ground.

"Watch out hmm?" he said with a quick smile.

He continued to fight constantly enveloping himself in a shroud of wind and cutting through the zombies. There was something strange with Schyth, he was an assassin, yet he was able to use techniques that only Chief bandits were able to use. I continued to watch him as a group of zombies crowded in on him leaving no room for escape.

"SCHYTHHHH" I shouted worrying for his safety.

But I soon saw that I worried over nothing, for Schyth jumped and then summoned a platform of mana on which he jumped again. He turned and flipped in the air; in his hands he held some 20 stars. Filling his shots with centrifugal force, he flung the 20 stars into the great crowd waiting below him. The stars propelled off of each other and each hit a head, piercing straight through their bodies to the ground.

"Grasp of the Demon!" He said as he landed on the ground, extending a claw like hand to me. I gasped in quick surprise. He couldn't be, he has been with me for the past few days, and he can't betray me now.

"FREY! Pay attention!" he screamed.

I looked behind and saw some 14 zombies being held back by an invisible force. They were snarling and saliva dripped from their rotten mouth. I looked back as I realized that Schyth was not aiming at me, he was just protecting me. I looked back at him as he closed his hand and the mass of zombies dropped dead, crushed like tin foils.

A purple aura surrounded Schyth and a blue aura surrounded me and the four instructors. A sinister orb started to grow around Schyth. The zombies saw it and began to run. The four instructors saw this and blocked all the exits in the building. I closed my ears knowing what would happen next.

Everywhere there were shrieks of pain ending in a slow gurgle. Everything that the orb touched immediately melted into a slimy puddle. We were protected by the auras surrounding us, but the zombies were not as lucky. They each melted down, one by one until the whole room was filled with a greenish liquid and a terrible stench.

"WHOOOO! What a workout before an advancement eh Frey?" he asked still calm and smiling. I couldn't help but smile back, he was always calm and in a good mood, though I do not completely understand his power.

"Indeed, are you going to ask for the job advancement?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I was, I'm gonna go ask them now." He replied as he walked off to the direction of Arec.

I watched as he and Arec talked, an expression of glee came to Schyth's face. I realized that something good must have happened. A few grins here and there, and then another few chuckles and Schyth pointed at me. Arec laughed and pointed to Robeira. I realized that Schyth was talking about letting ME get the 3rd job. I sighed, he was still thinking about me.

Schyth talked with Robeira and they waved me over. I walked over knowing that I was probably able to get the 3rd job, seeing the expression of great happiness on Schyth's face.

"You both have come here to ask for your 3rd job advancement. Me and Robeira are happy to give this title to you, seeing that you," Arec pointed at me, "saved my life as that zombie caught me off guard, and you," he pointed at Schyth, "saved us ALL."

Robeira and Arec chanted a quick small chant and I felt great power surge through me. It was like when I made the 2nd job advancement, except now that I fell that I am able take on ANYTHING. I felt my magical powers grow as it expanded the limits of my mana.

A few minutes later, after a few hugs and good byes, I and Schyth left the house. I asked him how he learnt the move "Grasp of the Demon" and "Assaulter" from. He just laughed it off and told me that he would tell me sooner or later.

We ran to an empty field, all that was there was a burnt down house and a roughly made grave. Schyth went to the small tomb and stuck his hand in it. He pulled out a claw, a beautiful black claw with a handsome gold dragon twirling around it.

"Isn't that in bad taste? This is a dead person's grave." I asked him.

"This was my fiancée, Hinyth's men killed her and I left this claw, and this," He stuck his hand into the grave again and pulled out a handsome green box. "They're the legendary stars of Ilbis. Sheer unmatched power." They will help me, kill Hinyth, and stop whatever is threatening the Maple World as of this moment." He walked away in the direction of Orbis. I saw a tear roll down his cheek as he walked, and I decided not to ask questions.

**Author's Note: **Oohh…longer chapter. Aren't you proud of Shortie? Ha ha so go THANK HIM, preferably in REVIEW FORM.

Shortie: Whoa…what's wrong with you?

Kalypto: Huh?

Shortie: You're pissed. And kind of scary.

Kalypto isn't aware that she has a very irritated look on her face.

Kalypto: I'm fine. But I shouldn't really be posting this chapter because NOBODY REVIEWED. –glares at you all-

Shortie:…-backs away from the scary girl-


	9. A New Menace, New Allies

**CHAPTER 8**

**A NEW MENACE, NEW ALLIES**

**(Schyth's eyes)**

After grabbing my Casters and Ilbis from Rica's grave, I quickly pulled on the Casters and stuck the pack of Ilbis on my leg where I can easily reach it in times of danger.

"Isn't that in bad taste? This is a dead person's grave." Frey asked me with slight hints of disgust in her voice.

"This was my fiancée, Hinyth's men killed her and I left this claw, and this," I stuck my hand into the grave again and pulled out a handsome green box. "They're the legendary stars of Ilbis. The stars of sheer unmatched power." They will help me, kill Hinyth, and stop whatever is threatening the Maple World as of this moment." I replied. I remembered a few good times I had with Rica and a tear fell from my eyes. Frey must have seen it for she stopped asking questions and fell silent.

I walked silently and swiftly. I cast haste and my speed increased. I jumped up the Orbis tower with accustomed speed. Frey behind me was quickly tiring from the endless jumping and running. Her breaths were coming in short pants and her teleportation skill was becoming less and less frequent.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Oh nothing, just you jumping around like a maniac and not caring about me." She said. She was obviously frustrated.

I grinned as she fumed and continued on how much of a heartless person I am. Intricate details on how I could be a better person and on how I should wait for girls.

"…Especially a girl that likes you!" She quickly covered her mouth after saying this.

"What?" I asked her. I was curious.

"Errrrrr… nothing, really." She turned away trying to hide her face from me. After a while she turned back and started walking ahead of me.

We walked on in silence again for a while, until I noticed something weird.

"Nothing around here…" I said, mostly to myself.

"That's good, no pests to bother us." Frey replied obviously blind to the menace.

"No… that's not good. First of all, my brother tells me of a new threat. Then the zombies come and launches an attack all the fourth job instructors. And then third, all the monsters are gone from the Orbis tower. Something weird is going on here, and it's not good." I replied back to the now horror stricken Frey. Her face showed trepidation as she figures out what I was saying.

"We should go… we must arrive in Victoria as soon as possible. I sense a new evil in the air, an evil not seen since past centuries…" I said fearing the new evil I sensed in the air.

The evil could not have been missed. The air stenches and reeked of it. The evil that was not seen for centuries, far past, to the betrayal of the dark magician, Miriam.

"Have you heard?" I asked Frey.

"Heard of what?" she replied.

The legend… of Miriam, the mage corrupted by power and took over Victoria, and ruled over the 50 years of darkness." I explained to her,

"No, not yet… tell me?" she asked. Curiosity seemed to be very common in this girl. Curiosity kills the cat, but… whatever.

"I shall tell you now, listen carefully, for it might be what we are up against." I continued on.

"Here goes", I said, "Miriam was corrupted by dark magic and soon gained unimaginable power, but it was traded for, with all of her human looks and senses. Near the end, Miriam's power grew to such an extent that she eventually had enough power to overpower the Four Wise Men of Victoria… well that is 3 Wise Men and 1 Wise Woman.

As her power grew, so did her confidence. Even after being banished, she still had the courage to gather magicians, warriors, thieves, and bowmen of all sorts, those hungry for power, to join her army of darkness.

Her new recruits were not powerful men, they were nothing special. As normal humans, I could have taken on 5 of them at the same time, but as the darkness corrupted their hearts, and as Miriam's power granted them the power to steal other's life force, they turned into monsters. Powerful monsters, monsters never before seen in the whole land of Victoria nor Ossyria.

They lost all sense of camaraderie. Their only greed is for power, they know not who their friends were, for as one is wounded, a healthy one took the life force of him, granting him more power and toughness beyond human dreams.

Her army took over Victoria Island and ruled it for 50 years. Those 50 years were called, "The 50 years of darkness." The name given as there was no light allowed to enter the world. Miriam summoned a black orb that surrounded all of Victoria, and clouded Victoria with endless darkness. Without sunlight plants wilted and humans grew sick. But through these suffering and pain of the people, Miriam grew stronger.

In this war, my family fought valiantly, and through the 50 years. Grendel kept some alive, though he could not save all.

On the 50th year of her reign as high empress of Victoria, Grendel, Athena, The Dark Lord, and Dances With Barlog gathered all the surviving men. Most of them were thieves, for through their countless stealth skills have managed to sneak through enemy defenses and steal what they could. War brings out the best in people, and so, the usually petty thieves shared their food with everyone else. Through this act of maturity and friendship, near 1000 men survived. 600 of them were thieves, 200 were magicians, 50 were warriors, and the other 150 were bowmen.

The army marched past the wilted forest of Ellinia where they kept refuge, and destroyed everything menacing in their path. Countless dark warriors from Miriam's side confronted them, but were slain easily by the huge number of men.

In no time, the army of Victoria arrived at Sleepywood. A once quiet town in the deep jungles of the dungeon. An inn rested on one of the many humongous tree branches, the lights were out and the roof emanated darkness and chaos. Many bedraggled corpses laid on the ground. These were corpses of the dark warriors, killed by their own comrades.

No more life force in the dead bodies, their strength and life was sucked away, similar to the life of most of Victoria.

I know not much more after that, but that is what happened. Miriam was eventually killed, or so it was thought to be. One man, an assassin was the one who killed her. But it seems she's still alive." I finished my story, exhausted from the long period of talking. I wasn't used to it.

"That's… not good…" She replied uneasily.

"No… not good at all…" I replied back.

Sensing a new presence in the air I quickly switched into battle stance. An arrow flew whizzing through the air. I quickly attempted to dodge the arrow and bent to my right. Four more arrows surrounded by a blue aura shot quickly towards me. Using the normal flexibility of an assassin I bent back to dodge the four arrows. My arms touched the floor and the arrows barely missed me as one flew right in front of my eyes.

Something told me to move and I quickly rolled away as a large black sword whizzed through the air and created a large slash mark on the floor.

"Who are you; I have no wish to fight." I said evenly.

"We don't really care, we just want to kill all those who would oppose us," said the bowman.

The bowman had long blonde hair and his eyes showed that he was young. His Red Arund, a bow of great power, threatened to kill all who would oppose its' master glistened malevolently. The bow was dark red with two blade shaped edges to fight close range. The clothes he wore were those of elite bowmen. A red robe with beautiful designs and a white undergarment, the whole robe itself looked something like a toga.

"A red Tai. This child seems to be powerful." I thought to myself.

"What are your names?" I asked simply, almost implying that I did not even care that they tried to kill me.

"My name is Felix and his name is… well you can just call him 'Kenneth'," Said Felix, obviously changing his tone to create a certain atmosphere of annoyance.

"So, you guys are going to kill me?" I asked, angering them even more, though I do not know why I did so. Something inside was just telling me to do it.

Something flared up in Felix's eyes and he pulled out an arrow.

"Learn the ways of the bowman … INFERNO." Felix stringed the bow, and as he said this his eyes burned with flames and the arrow erupted into a volcanic heat.

The heat from the arrow quickly set the air around it ablaze. Felix released his fingers from the arrow and created a miniature torrent of flames.

The speed of the Niagara of flames caught me off guard. Doing the best I could to dodge the assault; I quickly jumped up after casting haste. Knowing the impossibility of dodging such an attack with simple jump, I summoned a small platform in the air with my mana and jumped off of it.

After successfully dodging the attack, I summoned the strength to my legs; I gyrated in the air and summoned the Assaulter technique.

Had I been being attacked, I would have seen a deadly yellow cyclone coming towards me with extreme speed and power. But I was not being attacked, rather I was attacking.

Spinning as I was I could not clearly see my target, but I could still make out his figure. But before I connected with him, a large black object attempted to sever my head off of my body.

There he stood. The fearsome warrior who called himself Kenneth. His sword, ready at his side to destroy all those who would oppose him.

"Double Teaming?" I asked them

"If that's what it takes to kill you." Kenneth coolly replied.

The one called Kenneth was a teen in his mid 19's, still a year older than me. His Doombringer evilly flashed in the sun. Its black steel momentarily flashed a bright red as it craves for my blood. A thought occurred to me …

"Aren't you two supposed to be enemies to each other? I mean you're a bowman, and you're a warrior … weird?" I asked them.

"Well you're with a mage girl aren't you? Weird?" Kenneth replied.

He was clearly mocking me. He took his sword up and readied himself in a battle stance.

"Enough talk, you will die!" Kenneth screamed this as he lunged with extreme speed towards me. He slashed his sword sideways expecting to kill me.

I jumped backwards and evaded the sword, and then I quickly summoned a copy of myself and made the situation fairer.

My doppelganger and I quickly took off in opposite directions and swiftly shot 2 stars.

Kenneth spun his sword quickly to create a defensive barrier. All of my stars were reflected by the shield, and my doppelganger did not have any luck with Felix either.

Felix has summoned a puppet and strangely, all of my doppelganger's shots were attracted to the puppet.

A white arrow came from behind me and hit Kenneth's barrier. The arrow continued to spin and soon pierced through the defense and pierced through Kenneth's shoulder.

"You forgot about me," Frey said, grinning.

"The girl stays out of this," Kenneth said.

"Why? Scared to be beaten by me?" Frey shot back, still grinning.

Kenneth lost it. He just lost all control. He lunged towards Frey and swung down, hard. I quickly summoned a humongous star and threw it between them. The sword struck the star and Frey was saved, I let out a breath of relief.

"Listen now, no need to get angry. Why don't you just tell us what you want before you try to kill us," I said, I commanded my doppelganger to come back inside my shadow.

"I guess that makes sense, but it doesn't really matter, because unless you share our cause, or stay out of our way. We will just kill you." Felix, the reasonable one said.

"Sure, after you tell me your story, I'll tell you mine," I replied back, grinning.

**Author's Note: **YAY! REVIEWS! Thank you to the people who reviewed! And now I'm happy again! –smile-

Shortie: Great, she's gonna be all weird again.

Kalypto: Yup!

Shortie: Wonderful…

Kalypto: Psst! People, have you noticed that Shortie…bears a remarkable resemblance…to…SCHYTH? –shock shock-

Audience: …Is that a trick question?

Shortie: …


	10. Ambushed!

**CHAPTER 9**

**AMBUSHED!**

Quickly Felix explained how he and Kenneth met, and how they ended up traveling together despite the fact that they were from opposing armies. The two seemed to be rid of all worldly needs for power and all they want is for peace and calm to once again rule the land. Of course, with a menace like Miriam, this was not an easy task.

Once Felix finished his talk, I jumped right on to telling him how Frey and I met, and how we have recently figured out that Miriam was somehow alive and is threatening to destroy the Maple World once again. I explained how my fiancée was killed by Hinyth's men and stopped, emotions took over me and I cried, sobbing silently in front of the two men.

A hand patted my back, and as I looked I saw Frey there, with a look of uttermost sympathy as she tried to calm me down.

"I am sorry for your loss, but make no mistake, I do not completely trust you yet," Felix said, his face showing no emotions.

"I understand that, I do not ask that you understand me, I am merely stating my story," I said back, through the sobbing.

Finishing my story I told them that Frey and I needed to get moving and they could either accompany us, or just leave us alone.

"We shall accompany you, the more the merrier," Felix simply said.

"I think that'll be fine. Right Frey?" I asked her, she nodded reluctantly.

All 4 of us walked towards the top of Orbis tower to quickly get on the ship to Victoria. We walked quickly past the stone statue sitting on the 10th floor, and jumped up to the top floor in a matter of minutes.

By the time we got there, the 3 others were tired and panting.

"Should we take a rest for a minute?" I asked my three companions.

"Yes!" Frey quickly said

"No!" Felix said

"Yes!" Kenneth said, all the extra weight of his armor must have been pretty heavy to carry.

"Majority rules, we take a rest for five minutes," I stated, and shrugged as Felix glared at me.

We sat down on the steps of Orbis tower discussing what we were going to do in Victoria.

"Me and Frey? We were going to Victoria to find my brother, he told me that a new threat has arisen, and that's another reason we went to Victoria, to destroy the threat," I answered after Felix asked what Frey and I were going to Victoria for.

"I see, I see, I guess we're on the same team for now then," Felix replied evenly.

"Alright, 5 minutes is up, let's go back to Ellinia of Victoria!" I said cheerily. My statement was quickly followed by a cheer and boos from behind me.

We quickly jumped up the stone steps leading to the top of the Entrance to Orbis Tower and arrived at Orbis. It seemed that Orbis was still too far away for the monsters to have attacked, but I thought I saw a glimpse of a white fur ball hiding behind a pot of flowers.

People running around selling stuff was normal at this time of day in Orbis, I saw a person selling a beautifully curved dark blue dagger, the blade was glistening menacingly in the bright Orbis sun. I quickly ran off in order to get the dagger before other people could.

"HEY! You there! I need that dagger!" I screamed desperately as I saw him slowly moving away.

The seller turned around and I could see that he was a young boy, his black coat covered most of his body, and a black bandana covered his head.

"Oh, you would like to buy this dagger … Wait a minute, you're an assassin, you can't use daggers, are yout toying with me? I can't stand having people toying with me because I am young, prepare yourself!" He shouted the ending, I tried to explain to him but he wouldn't listen.

"I guess I'm gonna have to demonstrate my powers to him … "I sighed, hating to make a scene in a crowd, as an assassin, I like to be largely unnoticed.

I switched into battle stance and summoned a shadow copy of myself; we stood side by side and grinned. Pulling my Casters comfortably over my hand, I charged.

My shadow partner did the same and we both attacked in perfect coordination.

I flicked a steely with two fingers as my shadow did the same. Two steelies were sent flying towards the stranger who seemed unnaturally calm.

The stranger pulled out a red blade, curved in an intricate design of a dragon, with dangerous black thorns jutting out on its sides.

Twirling quickly, the stranger deflected the two steelies with ease.

"That all you got?" The stranger asked, grinning.

"No," I said, as an Ilbi stuck onto the stranger's back.

"Ughhh, how?" He looked at me, his eyes confused at the improbability of him not noticing an Ilbi.

"Look behind you," I pointed behind him

The stranger looked behind him, he saw another shadow, and then looked in front of him, he saw me and my other shadow.

"You can … summon two shadows?" He asked, surprise and respect evident in his tone.

"Yeah, and I can do this too," I said as I charged up my body for the next assault.

A shroud of wind surrounded me as I slashed my way towards him. Just before the Casters hit the boy's face, I pulled it away so that it would not damage him.

"You are no ordinary assassin," he said in amazement.

"Nawwwwwwww, really?" I asked him, smiling and walking to him happily.

"You see? That's why I need the dagger, to make my bandit moves more effective, I like to be diverse in my studies."

"I see, as a humble apology for my actions, I shall grant you the blade, free of charge," he said, bowing his head and handing over the blade.

I took the blade happily and said," for real? Oh thanks, bye!"

I walked back to my friends who were all staring in awe of the demonstration of my power.

"What? Is there something wrong?" I asked Kenneth, whose mouth was wide open.

"It's just that … you have the power of the bandit as well as the assassin? Then you could have easily killed us back there, we were not nearly as powerful as you are," he said in awe.

"Well I tend to stay away from killing people whom I hold no grudge against" I said, surprised at what he said, "and I thought you knew of my powers of being able to copy moves I've seen, I showed you the Assaulter move when I was fighting Kenneth."

Both Kenneth and Felix looked me in awe and wonder.

"Stop looking at me like that, here I'll show you." I told them.

I took an Ilbi in my hand and started to burn it in my hands, "INFER-" the air around started to burst into flames, but I stopped the skill as I saw that we were in a deadly trap.

Monsters, Leattys, Dark leattys, Jr. Pepes, Sentinels, and other such monsters started coming from all directions. The townspeople screamed as the monsters rushed over the defenseless humans and ate their flesh.

"RUN!" I screamed to a woman who had tripped over a rock and was being attacked by a horde of Sentinels. The woman tried to get up, but as she did so, a Sentinel knocked her over and summoned a powerful lightning beam.

"GRASP OF THE DEMON!" I screamed. The horde of Sentinels stopped dead in their tracks. The woman got up and ran, not even bothering to say thanks. I closed my hands, and rubble fell from the crushed Sentinels.

"SHADOW PARTNERS!" I yelled, and 6 clones of myself, all shadows appeared. I looked back and sent a clone of myself to help out my comrades; the other three was here to help me.

"INFERNO!" We shouted in unison, as 4 Ilbis flew from our hands burning all monsters who dared to come across it. Many charred bodies of Leattys fell and landed in a heap.

Pulling my dagger over my other hand I jumped over the hordes of monsters and spun over them. "ASSAULTER!" I shouted, bringing more hope in this unfair fight.

I felt the difference when I started to summon the power. The speed greatly increased and the spin was much more powerful.

The landing was also smoother, though it wasn't for the monsters. As I stood up, I saw 4 large craters on the ground, with body pieces of the monsters.

My clones stood up and also were amazed at the power of the dagger.

I killed more and more, maximizing the power of each skill until I could summon absolutely no more mana. I tried charging up one last Avenger attack, but the exertion caused my body to fall and made me unable to move for a few minutes, which was enough for the monsters to overwhelm me.

Leattys and Pepes were rushing over me and pecking at my bare flesh. Screaming loudly I tried to get them off but failed miserably.

An arrow of pure light whizzed by and knocked one of the Leattys off of my body, a large sword swiped whatever was left away.

I looked up and saw Felix, Frey and Kenneth there, all looking at me with a worried face. All of them were tired from the endless battling, and even more tired by what seemed an endless army of monsters.

I looked forward, and then back, and saw the terrible sea, of monsters. The vastness of their army exceeded everything I saw before, and a worried look began to make its way over my face, as I wondered whether we were going to get through this alive.

**Author's Note: **Hi, everyone! Kalypto here! So tell me, Shortie, what's it like being in below 0 degree weather without a proper coat on? (I'm talking Celsius here, people)

Shortie: jfk;sgnka;

Kalypto: Er…I take it your hands are still numb so you can't type properly?

Shortie: Whiast dyuo yhipou thginghnk?

Kalypto: Translation: What do you think? I think that your hands are still frozen. Look, a heater! Stick your hands over that!

Shortie: That's better.

Kalypto: Meh, your fault for leaving your jacket in your locker.

Shortie: …


	11. Fallen

**FALLEN**

**CHAPTER 10**

Jumping back and forth with the last bit of my strength, I dodged the attacking monsters. I stepped on a few of the smaller white fur balls and glanced over my shoulder. My comrades were doing fairly well by themselves, dodging the assault of the beasts and weaving their way to me.

"WATCH OUT! THE BAINS ARE ATTACKING!!" Frey shouted.

I looked to where she was pointing, and sure enough, there they were. Humongous beasts of fire, like dogs, their fur coating them like a shield. Not many mana-less prodigal assassins survived beasts like these.

I fell to the ground in the face of the Bains, their red glare burning me through the soul. One raised a paw and slammed it into the ground and a crack in the Earth approached me. I braced for impact and put my arms across me, in front of my face.

The flying stones hit me like a hundred shuriken; the blast sent me flying a couple of meters back and left blood spilling on the ground.

Crushed under the mightiness and the power of the Bains, I let myself fall down. My vision was hazed, but I knew that the Bains were approaching, and so were the other, punier monsters.

I was grabbed from behind by Felix and was dragged away to a house for shelter. It was quite obvious that it was not going to last too long.

The Bains came crashing through the walls severely injuring Felix and Kenneth. I flicked a couple of Ilbis over to the Bains, not injuring, but distracting them enough so that I was able to bring Felix, Kenneth, and Frey over safely to a close shop.

"Stay in here, I will distract them." I said to them firmly.

"But …" Frey started to argue.

"No buts! I don't want to see … any of you getting hurt. They are most likely after me, I do not know why, but I am sure of it." I cut her off sternly.

"…" Frey looked down glumly and then went to Felix and Kenneth, "don't die … please …"

"I won't, I promise you that." I quickly said and left.

I jumped over the smaller beasts to confront the Bains, whatever bit of strength I have left; it wouldn't be enough to kill them. But, I will try.

The Bains roared when they saw me, as if gladdened by having a person to kill. Its scratch was powerful and knocked me to the wall, hard.

"GAH!" I shouted a cry of pain, the attack left a gash on my stomach. Blood dripped down my stomach and into the ground. The searing pain in my stomach forced me to stay down.

"Ughhhh … "I groaned in pain. The Bains were coming closer, until a roar scattered them away in panic.

"The powerful Bains were so easily scared by that roar, what on Earth could it be?" I silently asked myself, fearing the new beast coming closer.

Running towards me was a figure of a man, holding an Omega Spear in his hand. I was relieved, for I thought that Redemption and safety might at last await me.

I was gravely mistaken, the man's eyes were red with corruption and evil, and his Omega Spear was glowing a sickening red light that seemed to penetrate all defenses.

"Fear not, I will not kill you, our master still has much in plan for you." The figure said.

"And your master is Miriam of course …" I said, "but who are you?"

"I am the one they call Gerardus, and I am the right hand man of Master Miriam. And, though I will not kill you, I will still devour a piece of your soul, to ensure my survival should we at time fight."

"What?" my eyes flickered wide open and my jaw dropped, Gerardus approached quickly with his hand outstretched.

I felt my strength weaken as what seemed like my soul was flying out from my body and into his palm. A sign of a lotus appeared on my palm, and pain seared through my body. My last sight was of Gerardus striking my stomach with his Omega Spear, my blood covering my eyes as I fell onto ground, and Gerardus saying, "you can not kill me."

All of my memories splashed in my head uncontrollably, and I fell into a dark state, almost falling into the hole of death, but missing it barely by inches.

**Author's Note: **Hi! It's me, your favourite and oh-so-lovable…err….person-who-gives-you-all-these-amusing-authors'-notes! With a delivery to Shortie, all the way to from the United States of America! (Yes, we're Canadian)

Shortie: What delivery…?

Kalypto: -holds up 2 prepaid Nexon cards- you now owe me 20 bucks :)

Shortie: NX cards! –gives Kalypto 20 bucks-

Kalypto: Aww I know you love me ;)

Shortie:…Since when?

Kalypto: That wasn't very nice :'(

Audience: Awww –pats Kalypto on the back- SHORTIE YOU'RE MEAN! (

Shortie: HEY! I'M THE AUTHOR OF THIS STORY, YOU KNOW!

Audience: -immediately shuts up-

Kalypto: Thanks guys…thanks a lot --;;


	12. The First Trial of Earth

**TRIALS IN THE DARKNESS. **

**THE FIRST TRIAL OF EARTH**

**CHAPTER 11**

I jerked upright in a place of total darkness. I could not see my own fingers much less anything around me.

I tried getting up but my legs failed me. I fell down again on the floor with a quiet thud. My head ached with a terrible pain, and so did my right hand. I tried getting up once more and succeeded.

As I stood up a bright light burst out in the room and eliminated all darkness and shadows that hid in the corners. I could now see where I was, and truth is, it wasn't much.

I was in an empty, dome shaped room. Many jagged and curved pillars popped out at random places, supporting the structure. The walls were painted a light shade of grey, and on the roof, a lotus shaped mark pulsed with a black light. It seemed to be the source of darkness.

"Where am I" I asked myself as I walked down the room. It took awhile to reach the end of the room, but as I got there I saw three doors, each one marked differently.

The on to the far left was marked with a leaf, the one on the middle with a water drop, and the one on the far right marked with an orb of fire.

"Hmm, I guess there isn't any harm in going into one of these doors, I mean, they're not like … dangerous or anything." Walking quickly into one of the doors marked with a leaf, I walked into a place, a beautiful lush and green forest.

The sunlight appearing through the holes between the leaves on the canopy, the smell of nature, and the calm and peaceful sway of the trees made the forest seem like a Utopia.

The trees grew some hundred meters tall and were completely covered by leaves. There was not much space between trees, creating an impenetrable shield of leaves to shield the ground from rain and excessive sunlight. The ground received sufficient water and sunlight only to keep it growing, and no more.

A crumpling noise made me look back, and I saw a brown snake slithering towards me, it was brown, the scales looked smooth and delicate, and its tail was nowhere in sight.. Not wanting to hurt the creature, I simply bent down and picked it up.

"This is one huuuuuuge snake" I said to myself as I picked it up and pulled, but could not locate where its tail was.

After following the snake's body for quite some time I reached a hole to which the snake seemed somehow connected.

Digging up the hole with a Kunai I saw the snake's scaly body turn into a rough bark-like … wood. It took a while for me to figure out that the snake was actually a root.

Just as I figured it out, the root-snake attacked me from behind; I jumped up and tried to summon my usual Shadow Partner. But as I tried to do so, my right hand started to pulse and sent terrible waves of insufferable pain throughout my body.

Falling down to the ground, the pain that started from my right hand became too much to bear. I stopped the impossible summoning of the shadow partner and the pain suddenly receded.

I avoided the root-snake's attacks and sent many a kunai towards it. The root-snake avoided most, but one struck it right in the middle of its body. Drawing out my dagger, I ran towards it with all the strength that I could muster and slashed the kunai's blade.

The force of the impact sent the kunai sliding with all the ferocity of a bandit's dagger through the snake's body. Running with the dagger and keeping up with its pace, I slashed at the point where the snake's body turned into wood.

The snake's head reared back and lunged for my head; I ducked down and prepared for a final attack. Using the power of my legs as it pushes up in order to reach the snake; I slashed the snake with an arc of my blade.

The snake's head met head on with my blade and split in two, the split divided the snake in two, turning it back into a normal piece of wood.

"Damn, that's one vicious piece of wood," I said, kicking the snake, and then laughed for absolutely no reason at all.

Walking again towards the other side of the forest, I encountered other sorts of wooden beasts. I saw a tiger, it's tail connected to a tree, the rest of him was … just like a normal tiger.

Pretty soon, I came to a clearing. A large circle of death with absolutely no sign of a living creature or trees all there was was a rotting stench and a graveyard of rotting wood, flesh and leaves.

"The Hell happened here?" I asked myself in confusion, staring at the circle of death.

Jumping into the middle to more closely inspect the circle, I made a deadly mistake. They say curiosity killed the cat, and I never actually listened to that saying. I jumped in the middle of the circle and landed on something soft. Looking down, I saw the fire magician that burned down my house, holes in his heart and in his neck. More carefully inspecting the other bodies around me, I saw that they were all the people I have killed in the past few years.

With a rumble, the ground shook and amalgamated into a colossal skeleton, made out of the dead bodies of all those I have killed. The skeleton's height was roughly 10 m high; its eyes were red with hate and malevolence, its fingers pointed to a deadly retractile claw. As it grew, I ended up standing on its head.

The skeleton shook its head violently in order to get me off. I jumped off its head and spun to the floor. Rushing abruptly, the skeleton charged towards me, its hand pointed and threatening to cleave through all my defenses and kill me.

Jumping towards the side, I dodged the worst effect of the thrust and suffered only a small injury on my arm. Drawing my Ilbis, I showered the gargantuan skeleton with an un dodge-able barrage of Ilbis.

All the Ilbis struck the skeleton perfectly, but something was wrong. "It doesn't even feel the Ilbis, it can't feel pain." I realized.

Trying to think of a strategy, I had no choice but to dodge its attacks futilely. Pulling out 6 Ilbis, I concentrated my mana into the shuriken.

"AHHHHHHH!!!!" I screamed out in pain. It has not yet subsided. I am unable to use mana, and it was all because of this mark, this lotus, on my hand.

'I have to figure out a way to end this, I have already suffered almost fatal injuries to my body,' I thought to myself. Drawing out 5 bags of mesos, I jumped towards the skeleton. As it opened its mouth to scream its attack cry, I flung the 5 bag of mesos and an extra bag filled with Ilbis in.

This action no doubt cost me my legs. As I attempted to gyrate away from the skeleton, it swiped me with its claw and cut me across my left leg.

Blood running and pain searing through my whole body, one question haunted me. How do I use my mana if this lotus mark continued to send off such powerful pain waves?

_**FLASHBACK**_

_Surroundings: Schyth and his father are sitting in a wide open area, no trees, nothing, only a table between Schyth and his father._

_Schyth's father: "Remember this Schyth, as a member of the clan of Hirazen you have inherited a great power. The power to transfer pain, and all your emotions, into a powerful surge of mana. When the pain is so great that you are unable to stand it any longer… it will come. But beware, in this form, nothing can stand up to you."_

_Schyth: "I understand … father …" _

_**END FLASHBACK**_

I woke up to real life and my own surroundings, the skeleton still charged at me with his hand. I concentrated mana into my hand and once again the pain returned. As the pain surged through my body, I could feel myself getting weak. Then, when everything started to become blurry, and when I was close to fainting, the pain suddenly subsided.

The lotus mark on hand was overshadowed by the Hirazen family symbol, a circle with 4 triangles, pointing to North, West, South, and East.

I started to glow a dark blue as a sense of invincibility took me over. As far as I could tell, I had an unlimited amount of mana, I felt unbeatable.

With this power, a sense of evil also came, at first, I didn't notice, but I would soon notice.

"Ahahaha," I laughed at the new power. Jumping over all the futile attacks of the skeleton, I continued to laugh, and then, summoning 5 elemental attacks, fire, ice, lightning, wind, and earth, I created a thin covering around both my hands, with the power of 5 elements. It was one of the most powerful attacks I had ever created.

As the skeleton once more attacked me with its claws, I grinned maliciously and returned the thrust. My attack went straight through its arm and destroyed it. Shards of bones, flesh, wood and leaves splintered, cracked, and evaporated. What was left of the arm fell heavily on the ground.

I went next for the other arm and the legs. I destroyed it all, and I had enjoyed it. The skeleton now lay on the ground, helpless to its own demise.

I lifted its head up … slowly from the ground, spat in it, and destroyed it. As the skeleton died, I returned to my original form, the assassin who can not use his mana, but knows of sorrow, regret of torturing one's enemy. And as I looked down to the body of the skeleton, without a head, legs, nor arms, I knew what my father's warning for. It was not for he feared me getting hurt, it was because he knew, with such great power, one usually loses himself, and I had done just that.

**Author's Note: **Guys, just because I've stopped nagging you, it doesn't mean you should stop reviewing…really.

Shortie: Hello.

Kalypto: Hihi

Shortie: I'm bored

Kalypto: Me too

…

Shortie: So…this is life…

Kalypto: Yup…


	13. Trials by Water

_**CHAPTER 12**_

_**TRIALS BY WATER**_

Walking self consciously towards the exit of the room, I thought to myself, 'How could I have done that? Am I really that evil? Do I give in that easily to corruption and power?' Shaking my head in disappointment of myself, I broke into a sudden sprint for the exit.

By now, all the trees were dying, branches broke off with a loud snap, trees shuddered and broke, the once a Utopia, was now a bare and desolate land.

Looking in despair over my shoulders, I saw the once lush and green forest behind was also dying. The leaves were browning and falling, the many wooden and living animals now sprawled lifelessly on the ground, and I couldn't help but think was this somehow my fault.

Still running towards the exit, the trees started to decrease, and after a while, it completely became non-existent, and was replaced by a large body of water.

I attempted to stop after spotting a small door marked with a water droplet and ended up skidding through and falling straight through the door and falling into a large lake.

Struggling to stay afloat I quickly reacted by casting a spell to combine my stars into one giant Avenger star, though I added an extra bit to make the star float on the water. This feat took no mana due to a skill I before mastered that enabled me to use the Avenger skill by using up my life force, instead of my mana, in case some tragedy in which case I could not use my mana came up.

The star sped up to breach the surface of the water and I clung on to it desperately, the air that I had collected prior to falling was getting depleted fairly quickly.

As the point of the Avenger breached the surface of the water I pushed up and breathed in a whole lungful of air. The same familiar air that I had breathed countless times before, I never thought I would ever be this grateful for it.

I quickly flipped on top of the Avenger and stood there, motionless, scoping my surroundings and locating the nearest piece of land. There were none. All of my surroundings, as far as the eye can see, all was water, I wasn't going to be able to go on land anytime soon.

Casting another floating Avenger spell, I threw the star far towards the endless body of water and saw it land a few meters up. Jumping forward, I attempted to land on the star, but seeing as I will be unable to reach it I quickly cast Flash Jump. I reached the star and continued this method of travel, using Flash jump to reach further, and using Shadow partner to propel me even further when even Flash Jump failed me.

I had been jumping endlessly for near half an hour till I saw in the distance, a maelstrom of energy. Water droplets swirled inside a raging tornado of crackling lightning and roaring thunder. The gale and the force of the wind could be felt even from here.

I sped up my casting rate and jumped far and ahead, reaching the swirling maelstrom of elemental energy. Above the swirl, I saw a flashing multitude of series of events in my life, good and bad times, easy and hard, trust and betrayal, all flashed in front of me.

Soon enough, the power of the tornado-like force scattered the flashes of memories around and spun them in endless circles, and I was reliving again past memories.

Rica dying, rescuing Frey, Meeting Kenneth and Felix, all the memories splashed and spun around in front of me uncontrollably. Soon I found myself crying, laughing, sobbing, giggling, jumping, snickering, holding myself, and still, I did not understand what the point was. I knew It must be some kind of trial, a trial to test my ability to … think? To strategize? To be able to relive past memories? I had no idea.

And as I continued to think, I failed to notice the large dorsal fin coming my way, its size clearly larger than any other sharks I had seen before.

Jumping out of the water, it opened its mouth to reveal 10 sets of cruelly jagged teeth; all poised to strike and kill me.

Hearing the splash of water behind me I turned to look at what was happening. Seeing a large set of teeth coming my way, I didn't stop to think; I quickly cast Avenger, felt myself getting weaker, and held it in front of me.

The force of the impact sent me flying off of my platform and straight through the water. Using my dagger, I stabbed two holes in its throat, and gave on final push to the Avenger. The power of my attack was strong enough to give the Avenger the proper speed it needed to send it flying through the shark, instantly killing it.

The red blood spilt and spread throughout the water making it a sickening red. In the distance, I saw small triangular shapes in the far distance. Once I started to squint my eyes, I saw they were more humongous sharks, interested in what was happening, and attracted to the blood.

"This … is gonna suck …"I sighed, as the sharks came closer, I took my battle stance and prepared for the worst.

Watching the sharks come closer and closer, I created a large Avenger star and braced for the inevitable. The first shark crashed into the Avenger star and died instantly, its blood seeping out like a river. Other sharks were momentarily distracted by the death of their comrade, but instead of mourning for it, they ate the body.

Finishing their meal, they turned their attention back to me. Their teeth now red with the blood of a shark, they charged once again.

"Damn, I'm not gonna be able to survive this for long," I said as I reached back into the pocket which held all my shuriken and kunais.

Patting it with alarm I noticed there were absolutely no more. After realizing that I had no other options than to use the other form, I hesitated, in the possibility that I may once again lose control of myself.

I put all remaining strength into my legs to swim away from the hungry mouths of the sharks.

Swerving this way and that, I managed to escape the first round of attack with only a few scratches and cuts, but still blood streamed from the fresh wound making the sharks more ready to attack than before.

Trying desperately to reach the surface of the water in order to get more air, I ended up getting my legs raked with 10 sets of razor sharp teeth.

The numbing pain started at my legs, red and protruding with jagged bones. Soon enough, the pain spread throughout my entire body. My leg was vibrating with pain, and obviously enough, the pain became unbearable.

Then, quickly as the pain started, a sense of invincibility rushed around my body. Green mana twirled around my body and bounced near my leg, the bones reconnected with other jagged pieces of it, the blood dried up and vanished, the ripped skin was replaced by new, smooth skin.

Having no broken leg to set me back anymore, I stood up on the previously set Avenger star floating on the water; I summoned a spell commonly used by poison mages, then, using completely mana, I created an Avenger star more powerful than any of steel.

Using a skill I created on the spot, I fused the Avenger and the poison bubble together. The Avenger became green and acidic.

Taking a lungful of air, I dived back into the waters and facing the sharks. Spotting the one shark closest me I flung the Avenger towards it, full force.

The poisoned Avenger struck it, hard, the poison inside the Avenger seeping inside the corpse, and making it bleed.

The scent of blood was caught by the other sharks, and they ravenously gulped down the dead shark, poison and all.

Soon enough, all the sharks that ate the corpse of the poisoned sharks were poisoned themselves, exploding their blood vessels and making them spew blood all over the water. The remaining sharks ate the corpses of the poisoned sharks, and in turn, they died.

Eventually, the water was littered with bodies of dead sharks. The water was no longer clear, but a bright red, full of blood.

Coming back on top of the Avenger I looked around for the next room, eyes blazing with cold fury. I decided not to switch back to my original form; I liked the invincibility, the sense of power.

I walked quickly into the tornado of swirling memories, and just as I stepped in, all the memories merged. One by one, all in order, they merged, into a door, with an emblem of fire. The door itself blazed with white flames, had I not been drenched in water and my unsurpassable amount of mana which covered me like a shield I would not have survived it.

Reaching out, I took hold of the door and pulled it open, prepared to meet all the challenges that would come at me.

**Author's Note: **HI! Did I mention how much I love life? No? Well I do!

Kalypto – has been very hyper for the past few weeks. Yes, more than usual.

Shortie: Would this have any relation to the fact that you're transferring schools?

Kalypto: YES! D

Shortie: Wow…

Kalypto – currently goes to an all-girls school…separated from all her friends…lonely…confused…and amidst a lot of backstabbing girls…you get the point.

Kalypto: SO I WILL BE TRANSFERRING TO YOUR SCHOOL!

Kalypto – is not stalking Shortie. She's simply transferring to his school because his school is also Kalypto's local high school.

Shortie: OMFG runs


	14. Trials by Fire

_**CHAPTER 13**_

_**TRIALS BY FIRE**_

A sudden blast of hot air surged from the opened door of fire, burning all air surrounding it. The heat evaporated the water near the door and burned the corpses of the sharks.

I walked in, an impenetrable shield of mana surrounding me, tongues of flame parted as I walked through, surrounded by small orbs of fire, I resembled a majestic king of fire.

I walked forward slowly, and in the far distance a small figure walked as well, when I stopped, it stopped, when I ran, it ran.

Curious as to what the presence might be, I ran forward as quickly as I could, casting Haste on the way to improve my maximum limit. As I got closer, I was able to make out more of whatever it is' details, its stance, its pose, it was all the exact same as me.

I grabbed my dagger by instinct; I knew that this thing was dangerous, and it copied my exact same move, it reached back and grabbed a dagger that looked exactly as mine.

After a few more seconds of non-stop running, I was able to make out _his_ details more clearly. He was me. Everything was the same, the hair, the clothes, all except for two things. This thing had an aura of flame surrounding him, while I had an aura of blue mana. And also, his eyes were full of emotions, emotions that does not exist in my eyes until I called upon it, his eyes showed love, faith, trust, anger, hatred, my eyes? They showed only the cold fury blazing inside me.

"What the Hell are you" I asked the other me.

The other me stayed silent, his eyes still full of emotion. I attempted to walk forward, the doppelganger walked forward, blocking my way. I looked around to find a way to move from this doppelganger.

I looked right, left, down, I found no way, looking up; I saw three bodies suspended in the air, by red, flame-like mana. They were the bodies of Felix, Kenneth and Frey.

"What … did you do to them …" I whispered silently at the doppelganger, when he stayed silent, I repeated the question, hissing.

"They are not real bodies, it is merely the memory of them in your brain, in your heart, and also, it is their souls. I'm going to kill them basically, and when their soul is killed their bodies will be lifeless shells, you wouldn't want that to happen to your _friends _would you?" it sneered.

"You monster … I thought you were me, you're nothing but an evil clone of me." I hissed back in disgust.

"As you say, as you say, but all I can do is what you would do, and that is anything, to achieve your goal."

"I'll kill you before you kill them," I sneered.

"You can never kill me," it explained, "For I am you, remember?"

"Planning to bet on that?" I whispered as I shot two Avengers made of mana at him.

The doppelganger also shot two Avengers made out of flame towards me and all 4 Avengers collided in midair, creating a burst explosion and then landing on the ground with a ringing clutter.

I charged behind the smoke that the explosion created and charged up an Assaulter technique.

Finishing the charge, I sent out all the energy I built up to propel me forward. To my surprise, I met with something hard and speeding with as much force as I had been charging. The impact blew me back far and had I not stopped the fall by pushing up with my hand, I would have broken my neck.

The battle continued on as we picked ourselves up from the ground. Both of us using the same moves in the exact same direction none of us ever got injured. I used Assaulter while holding an Avenger and a dagger in different hands to maximize damage, but to no avail, as the doppelganger did the same thing.

The force of the attack created a gash that separates the Maple World from the world of demons, monsters, and powerful evils that were sent to that world due their potential in harming the Maple World.

The created a swirling torrent of flames to erupt around it due to the friction it created by rapidly grating two particles against each other, the end result is an eye shaped gash of fire which would doom anyone who went in it.

"You can only save them by killing me Schyth!" He shouted, "but if you do that, what I am will be lost to you forever, and still, you have to figure out how to kill me."

"I've already figured out a way," I said back, "though it will doom us both. But then again, it's worth it to save them."

"You would go that far to save them? You're softer than I could have imagined. It will not matter, however, for there is no way you can kill me, because I do everything you do, and I can stop myself from doing so too." It tried to explain, rather nervously however.

I charged up one more last Avenger star, prepared my dagger, and saw my doppelganger mimicking me. I released the charged energy and charged straight for the dimensional hole. It wasn't until mid attack that the doppelganger figured out what was happening.

"No… NOOOOO" it screamed out in anguish. It knew I was going to kill it, and there was no way it could stop its coming destruction.

We met in the middle of the gash, and the crash split the gash even bigger. I felt the rush of wind as it pulled me and sucked me towards the opening of the Demon world. Fiery claws reached towards my leg and pulled down.

I struggled to stay on top but in the end lost to the many grabbing claws. I saw the doppelganger's head disappear, while smiling softly inside the gash as it was pulled into the fiery depths of Hell.

Looking up, I saw the fiery mana that held my friends on top getting smaller and then disappearing altogether. The souls of Felix, Frey and Kenneth disappeared and seemed to be safe.

As my head was about to disappear inside the gash, I saw the room brighten, and I saw all the flames, everything inside the room vanish. Everything, including the gash and the entrance to Hell, I was once again, safe.

Before I passed out, I felt something disappear in me, and I felt all emotions and everything I ever felt for Frey disappear, and I knew, that once I woke up, I would be an emotionless tool of war.

**Author's Note: **Zzzz….

Kalypto – stayed up late to work on her project.

Shortie: YES! I get control of today's author's note! And I'll start…by stopping this "Shortie" nonsense…

Shortie will now be called Stanislaus.

Stanislaus: Just so you readers know, I'm taller than her.

Kalypto – suddenly wakes up.

Kalypto: BY LIKE HALF AN INCH!

Stanislaus: Still taller…

Kalypto: Whatever…and in reply to one of our reviewers, yes, I believe Shor- err I mean Stanislaus does watch Naruto (and even if he doesn't, he knows the characters and the aspects of it).


	15. Gerardus

**GERARDUS**

**(Kenneth)**

"No buts!" I heard Schyth yell at Frey. Frey looked down glumly and quietly walked towards us.

Stopping in the middle of her tracks, Frey yelled at Schyth, "Don't die!"

I saw Schyth looking back at her, more than the rest of us, "I won't, I can promise you that," he said, directing it to Frey.

Frey nodded, and walked towards me and Felix. I held out my hand and she took it, I pulled her inside the potion store.

As soon as she got in, she let go of my hand and sat down in a corner. I looked at her worriedly, wondering as to whether she'll be okay if Schyth died.

"GRAHHHHHHHHH!!!!" I heard a voice roar in the far distance, and the one that secreted the voice was a man, holding a red Omega Spear In his hand.

A look of relief washed over Schyth's face, I saw, as the man approached him, and as the Bains fled. The look of relief was quickly replaced by a look of terror as the warrior reached out his hand.

Looks of pain struck Schyth's face, as a clear see-through gas-like substance floated from out of Schyth's body and into the warrior's hand. Schyth's hand then started to glow with white hot intensity and he fainted.

The warrior turned his head, and focused his glare on me, Frey and Felix. The evil in his eyes were so powerful, I was forced to fall onto the cold pavement of the potion store. I saw Felix doing the same.

The warrior slowly walked towards me, fatigued and bleeding through tattered armor, I picked up my Doombringer. The familiar handle felt good in my hands, but the weight felt uncomfortable.

Felix walked towards me and brought up his Red Arund to eye level, preparing to fight. He strung an arrow, and the air around it blazed with heat.

The warrior was now quite close to us, and we could now see his face. His Black Neos set boasted his superiority and power over us, I knew we were no match for him. And of course, his red eyes, eyes of true evil, evil I had never seen before. Before I knew it, I was trembling as he came closer, I couldn't understand how Schyth was actually looking at this guy without trembling. Marks of lotus flowers and leaves could be seen from all over his body, most were on his palm and arms.

He ran now, he is running towards us, his Omega Spear resting lightly on his back. He ran in powerful strides, spending more time in air than he did with his feet on the ground. He reached us almost as if in no time at all.

He stopped suddenly in front of me, grinning at my fear and our helplessness.

"My name is Gerardus," he said calmly, power and evil dripping from his sentence,"will you please stop looking at me like that? I'm not going to kill you."

Gerardus, Approx level 13x Demon warrior

Without an idea as to why, I listened to him and stopped shivering. "What is it you want? And what did you do to Schyth?" I asked him, a little bolder than what I felt like right now.

"Oh … let's just say he won't be waking up for anytime soon." He grinned.

"Demon! What did you do to him?!" I screamed out loud in his face.

The grin disappeared, replaced by anger and annoyance. Gerardus disappeared from in front of me; a sharp pain on my neck told me where he went. I fell to the ground in pain, my neck felt as if it was burning with white flames.

I crouched on the stone floor, Gerardus looking down with disgust.

"Weakling… and you dare yell at me?" He sneered.

Gerardus kicked me from behind and I flew toward the stone wall. Shielding my face with my arms I blocked any damage that might have been done to my face, but my arms were bruised and cut. My armor on my arms was caved in, sending constant waves of pain inside my arms.

I tried to stand up and barely succeeded, but in a flash, Gerardus was upon me. I was once again pushed to the ground, his feet rested on my neck.

"A Doombringer? You don't deserve this, you'd be much better off with a wooden sword." He picked up my Doombringer from the floor and snapped the blade in two. Then, in a shower of black flames, the sword burned into ashes.

My eyes widened in shock as the weapon that had served me for the past 2 years, and had been the gift from a valuable friend was destroyed.

"You … demon … that sword was precious to me, as is my dignity. You underestimate me, but that was a mistake." I said with spite, I truly hated this Gerardus character.

Black aura swirled around me, as I summoned the power hidden deep inside me, the power I was born with, as the special ability of my clan, the Raksas.

My wounds healed, the black aura seeped into me, raising my hands, dead bodies all around us twitched. Looking over towards Frey and Felix, I saw that they both fainted, Gerardus attacked them it seemed.

Finishing the first part of the attack, the dead bodies rose, skin and flesh stripped away revealing the white bones from underneath. A horde of skeletons, both monsters and humans rose in a terrifying army, Necromancy, my hidden skill, the bloodline of the Raksa clan.

Kenneth Raksa, Aprrox. Level 7x Necromancer, Crusader

The army of skeletons rose to launch an attack against Gerardus. A look of surprise struck Gerardus as Necromancers were rarely seen these days, and when they are, their powers are usually amplified to at least twice of their original power.

Signaling a skeleton of monsters nearby, I completed several motions with my hands and the bones detached, and once again attached to form a magnificent sword of bone, closely resembling the Doombringer, though white and brimming with the evil aura of a Necromancer.

"Fight me, now!" I said to Gerardus.

Fear as I had not noticed before appeared on his face, and it gave me new confidence, but before long, his malevolent grin re-appeared on his face.

"A corpse Jockey I see, but you see, you use physical bodies of the dead, while I do quite the opposite." He said with an air of superiority.

The lotus symbols all over his body started to glow and burned red. Demonic souls flew from his arms and took form in front of me. White pearly essence of many powerful monsters and humans, among them, was Schyth.

"Don't worry about these, they're merely souls, they can damage! Oh yes, they are as powerful as each of the skeletons you command but they are all dead, except for this one," as he pointed to Schyth, "he's alive, but when you attack him, his soul won't be damaged so don't worry. I want you to attack me with everything you got."

I looked at him, and then at the pearl white wraiths surrounding him, I wondered whether he was telling the truth. Making up my mind, I nodded at him, and made a few hand gestures at the skeleton army.

The skeletons started off slowly, and then increased in speed, until they were mere blurs of white. Our battleground was the whole town of Orbis, I was on one side, he on the other, and our armies of skeleton and souls were coming ever so close towards each other.

A loud crash indicated that the battle has officially started, skeletons roared, souls screeched, and the sound of battle sounded of music to my ears.

My skeletons attacked the souls with no fear of death, for they were already dead, and I granted them claws. They used it wisely, as they ripped all souls to shreds that dared to come before them.

The souls that died were just as quickly revived, the battle continued with no signs of stopping anytime soon.

A gargantuan beast called a Werewolf stood within the midst of the soul army, it itself was a soul, and it charged, mouth snarling, at my skeleton army.

It swept its claws though the blattlefield and crushed countless bone soldiers, I quickly revived them to kill the werewolf, but either way, everything was constantly getting revived.

An idea came to my mind, I used my mana to find the corpses of the souls that were currently in his possession, granting them wings and the ability to fly, the corpses took off to meet their new master, me.

I sped off in the direction of Gerardus and jumped over the battlefield of souls and bones; I soon reached Gerardus and began the close combat battle.

Lifting my sword I swung sideways at him, he saw me in time and lowered his sword to block me. Our swords clashed and created a shower of sparks; I twirled around and struck at his head. He lifted his Omega Spear above and blocked. I struck at him again, diagonally this time, aiming for the arteries on his neck. He lifted up the hilt of his Spear and deflected the attack.

I aimed a quick flurry of punches towards his stomach, and achieved my goal. Gerardus was caught by surprise by my attack and was hit. He was pushed towards a pillar and crashed; the impact left a dent on the pillar.

Summoning bone shards to my hand, I created a long sword to fit in my left hand, and I charged at him again, behind me I heard the loud thud which indicated the arrival of my new corpses.

Gyrating in mid-air I created large spiral, both swords swirling creating a deadly attack, very much like Schyth's gyrating Avenger technique, which he used against Felix in the Orbis tower.

Gerardus recovered from the impact and blocked my attack by summoning a mass wall of souls to absorb the damage.

I flipped backwards and stared at him. "Learn the meaning of Necromancy, and view the Necromancer's greatest technique, COMPLETE RESSURECTION!!" I screamed as the souls of his army merged with the corpses of my newly arrived bones, all the flesh reappeared and the humans and monsters came back, as real Gerardus himself.

Now, devoid of his army, Gerardus watched me with extreme fear. I lifted my hand and pointed toward Gerardus, my army roared and charged at him.

Performing a few hand motions he disappeared from the spot, leaving my skeleton army nothing to attack. I sighed, a good thing too, I was almost out of mana, and there was no way I could keep up fighting at that pace.

I flicked my fingers and the bones fell to the ground, dead.

I walked over to Frey and Felix and sat down beside them … "What else is coming after this …" I wondered.

**Authors' Note: **Hey! Kalypto here! Anyways, my parents changed my mind about letting me transfer, so I'm stuck here…grumbles

Stanislaus: Meh.

Kalypto: I'm hungry.

Stanislaus – didn't hear Kalypto because he's too busy packing for camp for the weekend. Yes, that's right – STANISLAUS is going to CAMP.

Kalypto: Ah, chillax, he'll be back in two days. And besides, I already have the first 20 chapters on my computer, so you guys won't be missing anything.

Audience (that's you): Whew!

Kalypto: And while he's gone…mwa ha ha… insert Kalypto's evil deed of your choice here 

Kalypto: Anyways, review! Please and thank you!


	16. Sins of Men

_**SINS OF MEN**_

_**CHAPTER 15**_

_**(Schyth)**_

A flash of light and I woke up, quickly straightening up.

"Where am I …" I said to myself. "…, oh yeah, there was that thing that attacked me … Gerardus? That was his name I think"

Blue flashes blinked in front of me and my vision was blocked by a flurry of white robes. Arms extended and wrapped around me, followed by the happy giggles of Frey.

"Frey … you're choking me …" I gasped.

"Oh … sorry!" Frey quickly said, letting go. She had tears in her eyes.

"What are you crying for?" I asked her, my voice vacant of emotions.

"I … thought … you died …" She said, happiness was resonant in her voice.

I looked up and saw Felix and Kenneth standing there Kenneth was wielding a new sword, much like his Doombringer only white, and looked like it was made of bone.

"What happened to your sword? Why's it white?" I asked him curiously.

"Lotsa things happened while you were knocked out man," He replied back.

"Ah, let's get going, we're almost late for the ship." My voice was monotone, and I could clearly see the expression of confusion in their faces. But no matter what I tried, I couldn't summon any emotions.

I stood up, cast Haste for myself and the 3 and ran towards the dock. Jumping over dead bodies and bones, I landed on a floating dock. Frey, Kenneth, and Felix were still far behind, because though they were blessed with the speed of Haste, they still couldn't keep up with the speed of an assassin.

"Move it!" I screamed towards them, their slowness was really ticking me off.

They reached the docks 5 minutes after, just in time to catch the ship.

Jamming my hand in my pockets, I turned and walked swiftly across the dock to the ticket booth. Apparently, the monsters have yet to reach this part of town before we blocked them off.

I reached the ticket booth and looked inside. The woman that usually sold the tickets was gone, dead. In her place was a black shadow, eyes glowing red, with fangs and claws of a werewolf. It resembled a human in body shape though it acquired fangs, claws, and wicked horns.

Amazingly I felt no pity for the woman, nor did I feel fear of the monster. Frey, Felix, and Kenneth reached me and gasped as they saw the woman.

The monster snarled at the intruders and lunged for the attack. I charged up power in my dagger and released it.

Teleporting from to behind the monster, I slashed it in the process. The monster screeched in mortal pain and turned around. Pushing off its powerful hind legs, it tried to slash me with its claws.

Raising my hands I muttered, "Grasp of the Demon," and stopped the attack.

It stopped in mid-air, helpless to do anything and merely watched me. I brought it closer to me and summoned a ball of fire in my hand. I brought the fireball upon its stomach and killed it.

The corpse fell to the ground, a soccer ball sized hole open in its stomach. I looked at it in annoyance and kicked it. I walked to the register and took out 4 tickets, then I took twenty thousand mesos from my pockets and chucked it at the dead lady, feeling no pity for her, I felt no emotions.

I walked out of the store to meet the faces of my friends. All of them stood there in bewilderment of what I just did. I had disrespected the dead, a humongous sin, but I didn't care about the dead, I cared about no one, not even myself.

"What?" I asked them malevolently, mouth open in a snarl.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Frey shouted at me as I walked away. She teleported in front of me and slapped me.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" I shouted back, then roughly pushing her over.

She landed roughly on the ground, ripping her white robe. She started to cry but I merely looked at her in annoyance and moved on.

"What's wrong with me?" I thought to myself, "I've always apologized and felt bad when I did something bad to Frey, but now, I couldn't even care less."

An evil snarl turned me around, I saw the black demon standing behind Frey. Kenneth and Felix were lying on the ground, apparently knocked out.

The shadow raised its hand and swiped down and roughly cut Frey's shoulder. A tint of red aura escaped from the wound and flew into me. I thought it was blood, but all of a sudden I felt rage at the shadow, sorrow and pity for the woman, apologetic for making Frey cry.

I created an Avenger star and quickly threw it at Frey and the shadow. Right before it hit however, I used mana to veer it off to the side, and while the shadow's attention was fixed on the star I appeared in front of them and quickly grabbed Frey away.

I jumped backwards to bring Frey to safety and used Grasp of the Demon to hold the shadow in place.

I tried to explain to her what happened in the time I was out, that I was unable to feel emotion, that I gained a piece of my emotion back when she was hurt, and that I was sorry.

She nodded, smiled, and said, "I forgive you," with a smile.

I smiled back, and crushed the shadow. It vanished after I apologized to her, I knew then what it was, the sins of men, and one appearing every time a human commits a sin, and by the looks of it, they were on the side of Miriam.

I proceeded over to Kenneth and Felix and woke them up, smiled and said, "Let's go, Victoria Island is waiting for us."

They smiled back, let out a cheer and walked towards the docked boat.

- --- -

**Author's Note: **Hi Stanislaus! Wth your name's so long..grr

Stanislaus didn't hear Kalypto because he's reading something.

Kalypto: Watcha reading?

Stanislaus: This? Chuck Norris

Kalypto: Oh.

…

Kalypto: Hey Stanislaus…don't you have papers to deliver today?

Stanislaus: OH S!

Stanislaus runs out the front door.

Kalypto: Yeah, he delivers the newspapers a few times a week. I forget which days though LOL. How else do you think he gets the money for his Nexon cash? Or his i-Pod? Which..by the way…is in my possession until he returns..MWA HA HA!

Please review! Thank you!


	17. Ride to Victoria! Face the Crimson Demon

_**CHAPTER 16**_

_**RIDE! TO VICTORIA!**_

_**FACE THE CRIMSON DEMON!**_

We walked towards the boat smiling, even though we knew a terrible war was waiting for us at our destination.

I hopped on the ship, Frey, Felix and Kenneth following along. The boat was carrying an amazing number of people, all probably aboard before the ticket seller was killed. From mages to warriors, from weak assassins carrying a Garnier to a prestigious bowman carrying a powerful Metus, the ship was filled to its fullest capacity.

A running mage carrying a wooden wand stumbled into Frey and fell down. Looking up with a puppy dog face he asked, "Can I have some mesos please?"

Frey obviously, being the sympathizing cleric brought out a large sack of mesos containing around 10,000 mesos.

The boy received the money bag delightfully and ran off into the crowd of people without saying thanks.

Frey looked at the disappearing boy with an astonished look on her face, "how rude!" she exclaimed, "see if I ever give any money to anybody anymore," she finished the sentence with a pout. However, 5 minutes later she gave another 10,000 mesos to a small bowman girl who also disappeared in the crowd.

Then suddenly, with a crash and a loud rumble the ship lurched forward, sending all the passengers tumbling down to the bottom of the mast.

The weaker travelers all ran into the cabin in fear of the Crimson beast, the Balrog. The 4 classes were divided up into two groups. The assassin and bowmen who were on my side went to the front of the ship, while the warriors and the mages went to the back of the ship.

The ship moved in haste and I sat down on the dirty hardwood floor of the ship with Felix, Kenneth and Frey. The two groups looked at us as if we were traitors, sitting with members of the opposite army.

"I feel unwanted" Felix whispered over his back to me.

I laughed and said, "Don't worry about it. We're not gonna be able to fight with each other when we face Miriam. It's only a matter time before they are forced to work together anyways."

A sudden blast of force pushed me and forced me to roll toward the starboard. I saw every other people do the same.

Up rose the dark shape of the Crimson Balrog's vessel, blocking the light of the sun, its shape was simply a silhouette of darkness.

Three dark figures rose out of the vessel, their faces covered by a bone mask. Their wingspan exceeded the width of the ship, their claws were razor sharp, and their eyes burned a crimson evil.

"So little pests, so much time," said the largest Balrog. With this he charged towards the jumbled up group of people on the ship's starboard.

Jumping to my feet I brought out my dagger and ducked underneath the Barlog's charge. When the time was right I brought up my dagger with all the strength I could muster and stabbed the Balrog's abdomen.

Blood poured out as the Balrog growled in annoyance. I pulled the dagger out before the Balrog had time to swipe it away.

The Balrog summoned an orb of dark lightning and shot it towards me. I raised my Casters in a last attempt to save myself, but the impact was so powerful it pushed me all the way to the edge of the ship. Just as I was to fall off the ship, the golden dragon that curled around my claw extended and grabbed onto the edge of the ship.

I pulled myself up to the top and once again faced the Balrog. The other 2 Balrogs were busy facing the wide array of people on the ship.

"Still alive" The Barlog asked with a chortle.

"Foolish of you to let me live …," I said coldly, "no more horsing around, I'll kill you."

A grin spread on the malevolent face of the Barlog and it spread its wings and charged towards me.

I created and Avenger in one hand and held my dagger in the other, then, concentrating on a past memory of a lightning attack, I charged it with a powerful lightning charge.

A grin as malevolent as the Balrog's appeared on my face and I charged straight towards the beast.

The Balrog sent its right claw towards my face and I quickly reacted by raising my dagger to block it. The power of the lightning boosted its thrust and the dagger pierced the Balrog's hand.

Black blood oozed out of the wound, only to be fried a second after from the electric shock of the lightning charged dagger.

The Balrog roared in pain as electricity flowed through its body, paralyzing it.

I then took my Avenger and brought it down upon the Balrog's arm. The Avenger met its target, completely severing the arm of the Balrog.

The Balrog screamed and flailed, releasing a burst of dark lightning around it. The orb of black lightning grew larger and larger until it almost consumed the boat. Frey's back was turned and she didn't notice the ever so close threat that was to kill her.

Desperately I charged in front of her to protect her from the lightning.

Stopping in front of her, the lightning struck my back, charring it. The pain it caused my back was unimaginable; luckily, I had shielded my vital parts with my Avenger, casters, and my dagger.

The lightning charged dagger and Avenger were undamaged, but the Casters, which had taken a serious hit, started to crack, and shattered, leaving my right hand bare.

I fell to the ground on my knees, gasping in pain. A surprised Frey looked back, and as soon as she saw me she started to cry. She desperately attempted to heal my back by casting multiple Healing techniques, but nothing worked.

Looking around, I saw Felix and Kenneth had survived by protecting themselves with their weapons, while Felix was surrounded by a dome of white bones.

Some other people survived, their bodies charred and their weapons gone, the two Barlogs remained unscathed, and the rest of the people dead on the ground.

_Elsewhere_

_In a dimly lit room, a grinning figure covered in symbols of a lotus flicked his hands._

All of a sudden the lotus symbol on my hand burnt with unbearable pain, and soon, I felt the familiar feeling of unmatchable power.

My whole body burst with energy, the wounds healed with a hiss, and a claw of fire replaced the broken Casters.

The power and the fire inside me burnt away my stored emotions; I once again became an emotionless assassin. I shrugged off a stunned Frey, and walked back towards the 3 smiling Balrogs.

"Enough … this ends here," I said as I raised my hand. The swirling claw of flames created two black Avengers. With a swift motion, I threw the two Avengers towards the two weaker Balrogs. The claw had increased the power of the Avengers, letting it slice through them and instantly killing them.

The largest Balrog roared as it saw its comrades go down, I grasped the moment of anguish as a chance to strike.

Sprinting off my feet, I disappeared from the Balrog's view and appeared behind him. Summoning the power of five elements to my dagger I cut the Balrog in two, crimson blood spilling everywhere. The Crimson beasts were dead, and again, we continued our trip to Victoria, to kill Hinyth, and to kill Miriam.

**--- --- --- --- --- - -**

**Authors' Note:** -Stanislaus and Kalypto come in arguing-

Kalypto: No way! My character is soo much better.

Stanislaus: Your character is a weakling…she's nothing against my chief bandit.

Kalypto: Thieves always get the fame and glory…

Stanislaus: It's cuz they're better

Kalypto: Are not!

Stanislaus: Yeah they are

Kalypto: Okay, prove it!

Stanislaus: Alright. My character's a chief bandit..and you are…a fighter…which tells us..

Kalypto: That you've been playing longer. HA!

Stanislaus: Please review while I prove her wrong…again…

Kalypto: -pfffft-


	18. Beginnings of War

_**CHAPTER 17**_

_**BEGINNINGS OF WAR**_

_**(Kenneth)**_

The ship docked on Ellinian grounds with a rumble, lurching forward and pushing the few survivors, weakened and burnt off the ship.

I myself landed on my feet, after doing an acrobatic turn in the air, just like Schyth, while Felix and Frey landed on their faces.

A woman robed in black and whose face was hidden underneath a bamboo hat greeted us, surprised at the puny amount of survivors.

"Evening!" she said cheerily, a smile could be seen under the shade of the bamboo hat. "It seems you guys had a little trouble with the Crimson Barlogs… no worries, Grendel can fix up the wounded."

Aella Lacota, Approx lvl. 170 Hybrid Arch mage

She started to walk towards the exit of the dock, gesturing for us to follow her.

Schyth quickly stood up silently and followed the girl out of the dock, his figure disappearing under the mass foliage of Ellinia.

I stood up as well, then helped Felix and Frey to their feet, and walked out of the dock, the other survivors following closely behind.

The scenery changed quickly as we walked out of the dock, the once before visible sky was now covered by luscious leaves of green trees. Deciduous trees blocked the sunlight, allowing only a little to serve as a light for the fairy inhabitants of Ellinia.

An old man wearing a classic magician hat and an old robe, armed with a wooden staff appeared in front of me with a blue flash of light, the girl from earlier on and Schyth at his side.

"I am Grendel the Old, the master magician of Victoria Island, this," he said, pointing to the girl," is Aella Lacota."

Grendel the Old, Approx Lv. 45x Master Arch Mage

"Aella" waved at us, still smiling.

"Kenneth, Felix and Frey, pleasure to meet you" Grendel said calmly, his hands stretched out to shake our hands.

I reached my hand out and shaked Grendel's hand, "the pleasure's all mine," I replied back.

"Alas, the niceties have been observed, we must turn back to the grave matter at hand," Grendel said quietly.

A black shadow appeared behind Schyth, its silhouette very similar to Schyth's.

"Kenneth, Felix, Frey, this is Schyth's brother, his name is Blade, his power is a great asset to our cause in this war," Grendel beamed proudly.

The figure became clearer, he was cloaked in a dark coat, very much like Aella's; on his head a Dark Pilfer, with power emanating from its core. His eyes were kind and caring, though layers upon layers of mastery and power hidden deep underneath, this was a man I would not want to cross in the path of battle.

"Pleasure to meet you," Blade said, extending his hand.

"The pleasure's all mine," I said, taking his hand.

"Nice to meet you!" Felix and Frey chimed in from behind.

"We must go," Grendel said, disappearing in a soft blue light, Felix, Frey and I followed Schyth, Blade and Aella to the top of the Ellinian trees, where a humongous library stood.

Walking in after the others, I looked up upon the walls of the majestic library. The walls were in an everlasting circle, and the books seemed to go straight up endlessly, magic, I concluded. Looking up, a floating stone hovered in the center of the library; it gave off a steady green pulse. There were hundreds of other people gathered in the library, all of them seemingly powerful.

"If I could have your attention everyone, it is time I briefed you on what is happening here in Victoria," Grendel said in a voice that demanded instant attention.

I stiffed up and prepared to listen, to news that is the start of the war, here in Victoria, which will claim many lives.

**Authors' Note:**

Kalypto: Oi, Stanislaus, I'm bored

Stanislaus: Did you know that if you fart constantly for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb?

Kalypto: …WOW. That was more random than I am.

Stanislaus: Meh.

Kalypto: Anyways, dear audience, there's a particularly cheesy chapter coming up, so pay attention, ne?

Stanislaus: Don't spoil it, fool

Kalypto: It's an incentive

Stanislaus: So is that why you gagged after reading it?

Kalypto: Umm….no…yes…maybe…ANYWAYS REVIEW! We haven't gotten one for a long time..and it makes me sad…


	19. Confessions in War

_**CHAPTER 18**_

_**CONFESSIONS IN WAR**_

_**(Schyth)**_

Jumping down from the position I stood in during Grendel's speech, I landed with a soft thud. We had been briefed on the absolutes of the war.

Miriam was indeed, the leader of the opposing army, she had nearly millions of every single species of monsters, lowering in numbers as their power grows larger. It was safe to say she had every single monster at her disposal. We had a force of 200 million people. 50 million of each class, though many weak humans still lies amongst our midst.

Thunder and rain blasted through the sky as Grendel spoke, seemingly in accordance with the continuous bad news. We would not have much of a chance, Miriam's forces grow larger each day, and the humans she has are powerful. Gerardus was a part of a powerful squad of 6 people, each more powerful than the one before. Gerardus was the second weakest.

I walked out of the library to my chambers, which I shared with Kenneth and Felix. I walked in and sat at my desk, continuing the poem I had previously written.

"SCHYTHHHHH!!! Are you here?" a voice inquired, it was Frey.

"… yes, I'm here." I quickly replied, my eyes darting to find a place to store my poem.

Alas, it was too late, Frey had burst in through the door, her face lit up in joyous smiles as always, she picked up the parchment of which my poem has been written on and began reading."

**Impossible**

"The memory that has never left me.

My love for you, though it was for naught,

I guess it was never meant to be.

Still, it was your love I continually sought.

Impossible …

Even after that,

I still loved you.

My brain and heart in constant combat.

My brain said to stop, my heart continued loving you.

Impossible …

Time passed by

I thought I loved many,

I still was never happy, why?

I guess I still love you.  
Still, it's impossible

There's that one person I've always envied

The one you love, one you would never give up.

The sin of envy,

I know I should be backing up.

But it's impossible"

"Who's this about … ?" Frey asked, as dejection crossed her face.

I noticed the look and considered the facts; slowly I began thinking, what was the correct answer, who it WAS about. Finally I said, "You, and my fiancée, who looked just like you."

Interest, happiness and confusion crossed her face, and then she regained her composure.

"How long," she asked.

"Huh?" I replied

"How long have you felt this way?" she asked again, with arousing interest.

"I donno, I guess I always have. The truth is, you remind me of my fiancée that might be one of the reasons." I said back, unsure of my reply. Truth be told, I was pretty sure I loved her more than Rica.

"I … see …," said Rica, then in an even more unsure tone, "I also …" She was rudely disrupted.

"HURRY! Monsters are attacking the outskirts of the city." Aella screamed into my chambers. I quickly grabbed my dagger, chanted the quick words needed to summon a shadow claw and sprinted off into the war, Frey followed behind, flashing with blue lights.

I caught up to Aella and followed closely behind her as she led me and Frey into the battle.

The horrific scene of wars I was so used to came into view after about 2 minutes of seemingly endless running.

Monsters were densely scattered around my field of vision. Every single monster had at least one human close to it. Loud shrieks and horrifying screams were all around the air, both inhuman and human screams.

I caught up with Kenneth and Felix, who were side by side, continually destroying monsters that stood in their path.

Drawing a couple of Ilbis, I shot them at full power to a Bain hovering in mid crash over a trembling mage. The stars penetrated the Bain's eyes and sent it sprawling over. Summoning the powers of fire and darkness into another few Ilbis, and with its speed accelerated by the claw of shadow I sent 5 deadly projectiles towards the previously invincible Bain.

The 5 stars pierced its hide and burned the flesh of the Bain. Its eyes opened frightfully in pain. It let out a howl of demonic ferocity; it ended in a whimper, signaling the Bain's death.

A wide eyed mage turns to me, signaling her thanks at my saving of her life.

I nodded to her and turned to find Felix, Kenneth and Frey.

It seemed Frey was in trouble, circled by hundreds of Wraiths circling around her like vultures. I quickly jumped over with concern, a bright green and white light shot out from each of the Wraiths, leaving them weakened and sprawling on the ground. With a quick slash, turning all around Frey, the Wraiths died with a ghostly moan.

"I coulda handled them you know," Frey said with a grin.

"I couldn't help but try to save you," I smiled back. Then I jumped over to Felix and Kenneth to see how they were doing.

Apparently, Felix had been standing in the middle of an open clearing, a gust of wind forming an eye over his head; his real pair of eyes was closed.

As monsters drew near, he brought up his bow and shot calmly. Each shot brought two silvery white arrows through the hearts of monsters, quickly piercing through and destroying those behind them.

Felix Ventus, Approx. Lv. 7x Ranger, Wind User

As he saw me in front of him, he waved his usual hello and continued destroying those foolish enough to come near him.

Kenneth was easily slaying the monsters and summoning their bones to help him on his savage onslaught.

His white sword of bones glowing with a black aura which seemed to sink into the wounds of those it cut and destroyed them from within. As I watched him, it seemed he was too caught up in the battle and charged and attacked me. I held up my dagger quickly and deflected the dagger by an ancient dagger technique. Holding the blade in moment for a split second, then flipping the dagger to the top side of the blade and pushing it down to the ground with its own force.

A surprised look came across his face; I just shook it off and grinned. I then quickly threw two stars behind him at two Cold Eyes that seemed to evade his eyes.

They fell to the ground dead and I ran off to destroy more. I was happy in this element of war; it was the way I was born, in the midst of a raging war.

Drawing my dagger and switching the shape of my claw into that of a dagger I skidded with expertise around the battle field. Dead monsters and blood left in my wake.

My dagger was covered in blood; I quickly slashed it off and trotted of joyfully to annihilate more of them.

This time I stood on a ledge, gazing with a watchful eye at the many monsters underneath me. With a trained eye I fixed mine onto Frey and her surroundings, Three Werewolves came creeping behind her as she fought off another Lycanthrope in front of her.

Instincts took over again, and as my aura came around me I extended my hand, a black sinewy shadow coming out of my palm.

The Werewolves broke her fight with a tremendous and simultaneous roar. She looked back behind her in fear. Three gargantuan figures were swiping their claws sideways at her, and the distraction provided enough time for the Lycanthrope to recover and swipe its own claws.

My shadow came in at just the right time. The arms of the Werewolves and the Lycanthropes were caught in the black shadow as they pulled. The arms came off the bodies of the beasts roughly, leaving rough jagged tears.

Blood spewed all over; Frey simply casts a shield around her to protect her clothes from becoming bloodied. "Girls …" I thought.

Summoning four demonic shadows from the ground beneath the beasts, the Werewolves and the Lycanthrope met their match. The shadows were just as big as the wolves themselves, with both arms. They snarled a dark smile a swiped at the throats of each of their rivals. The three werewolves died instantly, gurgling sounds came as the blood rushed out of their throats.

The Lycanthrope shadow was having a more troublesome battle, as its white original bit its arm and sent a powerful claw towards the shadow's face. One of the Werewolf shadows, finishing off their originals came rushing towards the white Lycanthrope and delivered a sharp blow to its heart. The claws pierced it and killed the Lycanthrope instantly.

I sent the 4 shadows towards the battlefield; they wreaked havoc upon the other monsters. For every opponent they destroy, those monsters' shadow gets added into them, making them more powerful.

After an hour or so, the first wave of the war was ended. Most of the monsters lay on the ground dead, and what was not dead was either running away or lying down on the ground, dying, with no chance of survival.

Our army survived with minimal casualties, 4 people died, the weakest link in our army. The remaining men let out a shout of triumph; I walked towards Frey and smiled at her.

A loud booming voice congratulated us and called us back into the town of Ellinia for a small celebration.

**Authors' Note: **

Kalypto: Look! A long chapter! A cheesy one too! Ahh yes, ze poems, ze confessions, ze amour, ze…err…well I wouldn't say knight in shining armour but something like that.

Stanislaus: Ze action, ze kicking butt…

Kalypto: Life is good…

Stanislaus: Indeed…

Kalypto: This chapter was good too…

Stanislaus: You saying all my other ones suck? –mock glare-

Kalypto: Of course not –cough cough- JOKING!

Of course, it'd be better if PEOPLE BOTHERED TO REVIEW! COME ON YOU NEW READERS WE NEED FEEDBACK!

Oh, and thank you to those ones who's still with us after 19 chapters..hehe…


	20. Bleed

_**CHAPTER 19**_

_**B L E E D**_

As I walked back to the town, a small flicker of hope burned inside me. The first wave of monsters we survived and lost only our weakest men.

None of my friends were lost and we destroyed many of the opposing force. The weakest of their army only however, was almost completely annihilated. There were much more powerful force to be reckoned with … Miriam, Gerardus, the squad of four he was in, and the Sin.

Shaking my head I blew away all the worries I had, right now, it was a time of celebration. Putting on a practiced smile I walked to the large table in the middle of Ellinia.

A person cloaked in black landed in front of me, her hood fell back as the wind pushed it off revealing a familiar face.

"Hiiiiiiiiiii, great battle huh 3," Aella said cheerfully. She patted me on the back and I growled at her. She smiled and I couldn't help but grinning back, she had an aura that makes people around her cheerful, but she was as deadly as any warrior in battle.

Smiling faintly I walked off with her towards the table quickly. Not many pleasantries were allowed in war, we would eat, reserving some strength in our bodies, and then going back to strategizing and fighting.

Taking a large leap I landed beside Frey and grabbed a plate and filled it with food. Frey looked at me and laughed as I stuffed a fish down my mouth, satiating my hunger, its' tail however was still out of my mouth.

She continued laughing as I slurped the fish down and started to eat out of her own plate, filled only slightly with selected food items.

I ate everything off of my plate and refilled it with the never ending supply of food upon Grendel's table.

Stuffing food voraciously into my mouth, my hunger was quickly satiated, but a shout of danger erupted through the air as I was finishing my plate.

The table of food disappeared at once and I instinctively drew out my dagger. Spinning around on balls of my feet I leapt at the source of the scream. Hundreds of Sin appeared from the sky. Landing and slaughtering many warriors.

"Damn, the previous wave was a distraction to get us off guard!" I exclaimed to Grendel, who was hovering above the men, constantly healing and then burning hundreds of Sin. The Four other leaders of Victoria were alongside him, slaughtering many Sin. But their numbers did not seem to diminish.

Hundreds upon thousands still poured from the sky, darkening it with their numbers. I swung my dagger at the sky, creating a black crescent moon that sped to the sky. The black blade cut through many Sin and their bodies fell upon the ground, but the other Sin continued to pour.

I watched as Aella constructed a lightning Spear from nothing and learned it through the skill of Copycat. Mixing the knowledge with an arrow of fire and the abilities of spear using copied from a powerful Dragon Knight; I constructed my own Lightning and Fire spear.

I jumped through the midst of the cloud of Sin, spinning, gyrating, twirling, pivoting, and slashing all around me. I was rewarded with the dying shrieks of many and the smell of smoke.

Creating an Avenger in one hand I mixed the two and struck at the closest Sin. Burning, it fell towards the Earth. Aella jumped close and yelled, "great fun this, eh?"

Smiling I yelled back, "only if you don't die!"

She began to cast teleport hundreds of times, flashes of blue and red streaking through the Sin while I crushed them with my Spear and Avenger. She appeared back beside me in a flash of light and smiled, the hundreds of Sin surrounding us fell down, clutching a part of their body, which was either scarred by a three pointed blade, or burning red, by an arrow of fire.

A sudden gap seemed so out of place in the midst of the blackness of the Sin, but it was a sight I welcomed. I started to run towards the outer edges of the Sin circle, itching to show off my own skill, and so I called upon the invincibility within.

My speed increased tenfold and another spear and Avenger appeared by my side. Holding my dagger in my mouth, I ran and ran, slicing, burning, cutting, defending, and ripping. Finally, I came upon Aella again, her face surprised, as hundreds of Sin similarly fell down, dead.

I followed their path and saw the destruction. My momentary enjoyment was replaced by anguish as I saw what the price of my need for killing was. The ground was littered with Sin bodies that melted into the ground and the dead bodies of our own army. The casualties of our men were much more severe now, hundreds lay dead.

Frey was starting to be overwhelmed, hordes of Sin swarmed around her and clawed at her. Streaks of red dripped on her Anakarune and fell on the ground.

Shouting in rage I dashed in rage towards the Sin that entrapped her. Using a skill I made up myself in the few minutes while I was by myself in my room.

"KIAMAT!" I screamed as a fireball burned in my hand, I pushed it into the ground and it burst hundreds of flaming bits of Earth into the sky. Hundreds of small embers burned in the sky, suspended by my mana, and a scattered few of humongous flames burned brightly in the air.

Waving my right hand down, the bits of Earth and fire rushed down and burned the Sin crowding Frey and the larger fires burned those in the sky with a flick upwards of my left hand.

After countless many more close encounters, nearly nine hundred men lay dead on the ground, and the Sin were still boundlessly flying in from the skies.

My arms ached from countless scratches, and the strain of lifting it was now too great. I lifted my throat in defeat as a Sin came and raised its claw to pierce through my throat.

A black cloak billowed and the Sin fell on the ground, clutching at its throat, it then slithered into the ground, lifeless.

I stared at my savior, an elf warrior, a legendary race. Her sword was black, like the Sin's hide and her skin was fair and shone like a faint star, even in the darkness.

"My name is Bleed. I am the leader of the Great Nation of the elf warriors. I have brought a thousand of us here to help you, as the many monsters Miriam gathered has attacked even our well fortified city, we though we might find it easier if we were to side with the humans," the elf said.

"Schyth, glad to have your help," I quickly replied, regretting my own quick and foolish decision to give up the fight.

I searched inside me and found the unlimited power, forcing it to believe I was in unbearable pain; I summoned it to my aid. My wounds quickly healed and my arms regained their trained agility and strength.

Bleed looked surprised at my hidden power and stood there for a few seconds as I went around her and killed the Sin that tried to take advantage of her loss of awareness.

"You have it … the gift…" she stuttered. She looked around her, seemingly surprised at the amount of Sin there are and snapped back into reality. Her arms and body were a constant blur, her sword flashing expertly, cutting through the lines of Sin.

I thought about what she said and decided to ask her later. Right now, I needed to help my friends.

I ran across the grounds searching for Aella, Frey, Kenneth, and Felix.

I spotted Felix amongst a circle of Sin, his eye of wind fluttering and constantly failing, his bow rising and dropping with no strength left.

I jumped and skidded to him, transferring some mana and power to him, and his eyes regained their glow. His eye of wind turned strong once more and his bow lifted up with the determination I had known it to be. As I walked away I saw 3 figures in black cloaks arrive next to him, their face shining a dull white, I now had no cause for worry.

I did the same with Kenneth and Aella, when I saw Frey, I stopped. She was lying on the ground, covered with scars. Her robe was torn and gashes were covering it. I walked slowly to her, my eyes watering. I picked up her limp body and held it close to me.

Her body was cold and she did not move. I hugged her tightly and held her possessively. I continually whispered "don't die on me … please don't die on me …" in her ear, but no response was given.

I stood up, picking Frey up along with me. I jumped clear across the fields, I felt surprised at the power my legs still had.

I landed at the front door of the hospital, and quickly erupted into a long sob. One of the nurses came and took Frey out of my arms, I held her tightly for a minute, and then let go.

Frey was brought into the surgery room and the Chief Doctor talked to me.

"Not much can be done at this time. Her body suffered major injuries, and … a piece of Sin is embedded in her heart. If we take it out, she might not make it. All we can do now is pray and hope she'll survive, but we've done all we can in terms of physical help." The doctor said with a resigned sigh.

A flash of anger burned in my eyes, the doctor cowered at the sight of it. Bloodlust emanated from my body like tongues of flame, and I quickly left the hospital.

I formed an Avenger in my hand, and then I turned it into a sword. Let all those things that hurt her feel blade in their hearts.

I charged, forming a spear in my left hand thrusting both blades into hearts of many Sins. I worked quickly, fearlessly, and tirelessly. One, twenty, two hundred, a thousand, I then lost count as my anger took over and slaughtered all the Sin in my way.

I hardly felt it as three Sin struck my back, leaving three gashes. My body took it as no real damage, as the mana spread over the wound, healing it.

My face was contorted with emotional pain, grimacing and scowling as I rendered countless hearts useless. I looked up and saw the sky has been rid of most of the Sin. The moon shone brightly through the clouds.

Seven slim figures darted through our army and the Sin army alike, killing those in their path.

They surrounded me in a circle; they were Sin, though somehow different.

"We are the seven deadly sins," said one of them, "I'm Wrath, and you know what? I took great pleasure in killing your girlfriend … you know … the one in the robe? The pretty little cleric?"

I snarled and jumped at him, my body a blur. My sword flashing in front of his neck, and I quickly stabbed it into the neck. No effect.

"Is that all you have?" Wrath asked, opening his claws and digging it into my stomach. I felt a jolt of pain, blood spurted from the wound and Wrath smiled joyfully.

Authors' Note:

Stanislaus: You haven't been talking much lately…O.o

Kalypto: I've been rotting my brain with too much Ouran…

Stanislaus: I see…

Kalypto: Anyways, guys, one more chapter to go! Then part one of the story will be done!

Stanislaus: Yeah…

Kalypto: And what I wanna know is, how many of you have actually been reading these authors' notes! So, reply in review form! Don't send me messages, because everyone knows I don't check them…

Stanislaus: And why don't you write something too? It'll keep you busy over the summer.

Kalypto: I haven't written anything for a year now…probably not going to start now.

Stanislaus: Suit yourself.

Kalypto: Anyways, reply and review, and the last chapter of THIS PART OF THE STORY will be coming up soon! Don't worry, there will be a second part. Wait for it with joyful hope, my children! Bwa ha ha…

Audience: …


	21. The Celestials

**[Please read the authors' note at the bottom of the page when you're finished**

**Chapter 20  
The Celestials**

Blood poured from the stomach wound on to the ground. Wrath gleefully smiled and called to his teammates. Each used their own method to inflict pain on me, one biting, stabbing, ripping, kicked, punched, but all had a part in trying to kill me.

I waited until every last one of the seven had a piece of their body connected to me, then let out a powerful burst of flame mana which spread through their bodies.

All seven Sin burnt on the spot, their bodies charred and burnt, fell to the ground. I looked at them with disdain, my eyes glazed with a black haze of evil, and I left quickly. But there was something I missed.

As I jumped away from the bodies, I killed more and more Sin. As I killed tens of Sin, I felt a powerful surge of energy in the direction of the Seven deadly Sins.

I averted my eyes back to their direction and saw Wrath Standing up, a malevolent grin on his face. I turned around and fixed my eyes on him, and I walked back slowly to him.

He raised his arms and began a low chant; a similar mark appeared on his body and surprised me, a black lotus.

As he chanted, the bodies of the many Sin around him, including the other Six Deadly Sins turned into a black mist and gathered around him. Soon enough, all the Sin, dead or alive turned into a black mist and surrounded Wrath.

The black mist was slowly absorbed into wrath's body, and his energy increased by the second. Soon enough it was almost as powerful as a previous entity I met, Gerardus.

As Wrath absorbed the last of the mist, he looked over at me and smiled. Then he disappeared and appeared in front of me.

Out of instinct I created an avenger in my hand and threw it at him while leaping back. His reaction was swift and powerful; he grabbed the Avenger by its hand guard and reversed its spin to my direction.

I brought up an Elvish sword lying conveniently on the ground and charged mana into it, then raised it up to block the incoming assault.

The Avenger and the blade crashed into each other, sending a gust of wind across the battlefield, shocking back life in the faces of the stunned elves and humans in the battleground.

Brandishing the blade I charged once again towards Wrath, thrusting my sword at his head. A black sword appeared on Wrath's hand and he parried the thrust and charged at me.

I met his blade with my dagger and sent a ball of deadly mana at him, while using my sword to strike at his legs.

Wrath rotated his body to avoid the blast of mana and jumped at the precise moment my sword would have cut his legs. He pirouetted backwards and pointed the tip of his sword at me.

I took a defensive stance and readied myself. The remaining elves and humans gathered across us, making a wall and preparing to charge at Wrath.

Wrath noticed the incoming danger and readied himself to leave, but he said these words, "Miriam has an army, and within those are humans, traitors you would call them. Some are in it for killing, glory, some just likes to fight, and some are sick of the world as it is now, like me. The humans in this army are in an elite group called the Celestials; we are divided into four main groups. The Mortals, The Immortals, The Angels, and The Cherubim. The previous battles you have encountered were with Mortals, the simple Sin or those with no significant power. You have faced two Cherubim, me and Gerardus, there are two more you should be wary of. As you are now, you will die against me, Gerardus, or the other two. You're at the level of an Angel, and we are at the level of the four Wise men … and Woman." He said with a smile, "so strengthen up, or die."

"I will not die by the hands of trash like you," I retorted, but instead of falling into the insult he grinned and left as a flash of black light enveloped him.

I stepped forward quickly as I realized what was happening and thrust my sword into the black tube of light. The blade was met by thin air and the black light disappeared instantaneously and I screamed a cry of anguish at my inability to avenge Frey.

I felt my knees give way under my weight and I fell to the dirty ground. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up, it was Felix, he was smiling, but there was no joy or happiness in his face, only resignation.

I shook his hand off and stood up slowly, my weak knees making me wobble. Felix grabbed my arm and helped me steady myself. I forced myself to walk a ways off back to the hospital where Frey was being treated and shouted at the bustling attendants.

"HOW IS SHE?" I shouted loudly.

"You'll have to calm down sir, this is a hospital," the girl who noticed said to me, her eyes pointed downward and her voice quavering with fear, "as for the girl she's …"

"What's wrong with her?" I asked the nurse, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH HER?" I said again when she didn't answer.

"She … fell in a coma, and her pulse is quickly diminishing …," the nurse said still looking downward.

Feeling the hot tears well up in my eyes as I heard her say the words I had been afraid to hear I rushed to Frey's room. I burst through the door and found Frey lying on her bed, her face peaceful. She was dressed in a one-piece hospital garb which was cut off at the arms.

I sat beside her and whispered all the comforting things I could say to her, all the while stroking her hair. I sat there for hours over, not doing anything else, and after feeling the heaviness of my eyes and her unmoving state I held her hand in mine and cried.

I looked at the heart rate monitor and saw it begin to rise to normal tempo and my hopes were raised, but as I began calling to the nurses the rate began to drop and Frey began to flail around. I began to worry as three doctors and nurses came into the room to check her temperature and her stability.

I looked away and tried to keep my calm until I heard the rhythmic, continuous beeping which was the sign of a flat line.

The doctors and nurses that attended Frey came to me, their face hidden in hair as they looked away and that was enough for me. I knew what had happened, Frey had died.

I started to laugh, I wasn't sure why, it seemed as if my brain did not know how else to handle the sadness. I tried to stop myself and it worked after a while, I started to cry. A state of deep misery, and my body let out a deep blue aura, the color of misery.

The effects of my anguish and crying affected those near me, as they too started to cry. I finally lost it slashed a nearby wall with my dagger, leaving a large gash on the wall.

"GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed, and then, unable to hold back I ran away. I ran to Grendel's house and sought my brother.

"Train me, train me now," I said to him breathlessly.

He looked at me silently, his eyes studying me and my grief, and then at last, he nodded.

"It will be hard," he said simply.

"I know," I replied.

He waved his hand and in a flash we were gone, galloping through the trees, me following my brother, to wherever he would train me.

**Authors' Note (AN IMPORTANT ONE THIS TIME)**

Please note:

-that this IS the last chapter of Way of the Assassin  
-there WILL be more parts coming in later (this was for those who were getting ready to flame/complain/whine about a cliffhanger ending)  
-that the next part will NOT be under Way of the Assassin, so yes, you will have to check for a new story posting by myself

-that the next part will be out as soon as the author finishes the first 5 chapters. No, this does not mean all 5 chapters will be posted at the same time, it just ensures that there won't be any abnormally large time gaps between each posting.

Everybody understand? Good. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[End of important part

Kalypto: OMG IT'S THE LAST CHAPTER! TT and since people want Shortie back (instead of Stanislaus), HERE HE COMES[please note that they are the same person, only we call him different names, okay?

Shortie: Hello

Kalypto: Umm well this line was supposed to be for Shortie's list of people to thank, but I kind of lost it…so…

Shortie: …

Kalypto: Ah! I remember! I believe it consisted of you guys (the readers), everyone who reviewed, me, and himself…ahahaha…

Shortie: Yeah that seems like the whole list.

Kalypto: THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! Look for the next part (which I've already read), and remember, stay beautiful! Kisses for all!

Shortie: You're weird…

Kalypto: I know..hehehe..


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